Disclosures of personal information maintained by an agency is limited and defined by the Act. Agencies shall not disclose any record contained in a system of records to any person, or to another agency, without the written consent of the individual to whom the record pertains unless disclosure of the record would be:
- to those officers and employees of the agency which maintains the record who have a need for the record in the performance of their duties;
- required under the Freedom of Information Act;
- for a routine use as defined in (a)(7) and described in subsection (e)(4)(D) of the Privacy Act of 1974;
- to the Bureau of the Census for purposes of planning or carrying out a census or survey or related activity pursuant to the provisions of Title 13;
- to a recipient who has provided the agency written assurance that the record will be used solely for statistical research and provided in a way that is not individually identifiable;
- to the National Archives and Records Administration if the record is historically significant;
- to another agency or governmental instrument within the United States for a civil or criminal law enforcement activity;
- to a person pursuant to a showing of compelling circumstances affecting the health or safety of an individual;
- to either House of Congress, or any committee or subcommittee thereof;
- to the Comptroller General in the course of the performance of the duties of the General Accounting Office;
- pursuant to the order of a court of competent jurisdiction; or
- to a consumer reporting agency in accordance with section 3711(f) of Title 31.
Except for disclosures made under (1) and (2) above, agencies are required to maintain an accounting of the date, nature, and purpose of each disclosure of a record to any person or to another agency and the name and address of the person or agency to whom the disclosure is made.
