How to Make a Privacy Act Request
You may submit a Privacy Act request to HHS concerning any record about you that HHS maintains in a “system of records;” that is, a system from which records about individuals are retrieved by personal identifier. There are three types of Privacy Act requests, I. Access to or Notification about the Existence of Records, II. Amendment or Correction of Records, and III. Accounting of Disclosures.
Please be advised, only type (I) is submitted through this PAL submission site.
Further information and instructions for each of the three types of Privacy Act requests, please visit How to Make a Privacy Act Request | HHS.gov
I. Access to or Notification about the Existence of Records
These instructions explain how to request access to a record about you or to request notification of whether a particular system of records contains a record about you.
If your request is not fully granted under the Privacy Act (5 USC 552a), HHS will process it under the Freedom of Information Act (5 USC 552) and provide you with any information that is not excluded or exempt from access under both Acts.
What do I include in my request?
If making an access request, you may use this access request and consent form - PDF, or you may submit a letter containing the same information that you would provide on the form.
No form is provided for a notification request. If making a notification request to determine if a particular system of records contains a record about you, include in your request (1) the applicable System of Records Notice (SORN) name and number and (2) the same information required in the above form for an access request.
Where do I send my request?
You may submit your request to any of the following:
Secure Web Portal:
Requests submitted through the web portal reach us within one business day.
Email:
Please note that email is not considered to be sufficiently secure to safely transmit sensitive information, so please do not use email to submit a sensitive request or sensitive attachments. If you submit your request by email, please send any sensitive information to us separately by mail or the web portal.
Mail:
You may submit your request to any of these mailing addresses. If you submit your request by mail, clearly mark the envelope “Privacy Act/FOIA Request” and be aware that the request may take two weeks to reach us due to secure handling requirements.
- The Privacy Act Contact or FOIA/PA Requester Service Center of the HHS component that maintains the record, at the address listed at https://www.hhs.gov/foia/contacts/index.html.
- System Manager of the applicable system of records, if known, at the address indicated in the System of Records Notice (SORN). SORNs are posted at https://www.hhs.gov/foia/privacy/sorns/index.html.
- HHS FOIA/Privacy Act Division, Hubert H. Humphrey Building – Room 729H, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20201.