§16.4. Responsibility for responding to requests. — Inbound Citations

(d) When a component receives a Privacy Act request for access to a record in its possession, it shall determine whether another component, or another agency of the Federal Government, is better able to determine whether the record is exempt from access under the Privacy Act. If the receiving component determines that it is best able to process the record in response to the request, then it shall do so. If the receiving component determines that it is not best able to process the record, then it shall follow the consultation, referral, and coordination procedures under § 16.4, subject to the requirements in this section. Components may make agreements with other components or agencies to eliminate the need for consultations or referrals for particular types of records.

(a) Components ordinarily will respond to requests according to their order of receipt. Appendix I to this part contains the list of the Department components that are designated to accept requests. In instances involving misdirected requests that are re-routed pursuant to § 16.4(c), the response time will commence on the date that the request is received by the proper component's office that is designated to receive requests, but in any event not later than 10 working days after the request is first received by any component's office that is designated by these regulations to receive requests.