What can I do if I am dissatisfied with IPEC's response to my Privacy Act request?
5 C.F.R. § 10400.23
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a) What can I appeal? You can appeal any adverse determination in writing to the Privacy Act Appeals Officer (the Legal Advisor or a designee) within ninety calendar days after the date of our response. We provide a list of adverse determinations in § 10400.22(b)(4).
(b) How do I make an appeal?—(1) What should I include? You may appeal by submitting a written statement giving the reasons why you believe the Privacy Act Appeals Officer should overturn the adverse determination. Your written appeal may include as much or as little related information as you wish to provide, as long as it clearly identifies the determination (including the request number, if known) that you are appealing.
(2) Where do I send my appeal? You should mark both your letter and the envelope, or the subject of your email, “Privacy Act Appeal.” To avoid mail delivery delays caused by heightened security, we strongly suggest that you email any appeal to ipecfoia@ipec.eop.gov. Our mailing address is: Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Executive Office of the President, Washington, DC 20503, Attn: Privacy Act Appeals Officer.
(c) Who will decide your appeal? (1) The Privacy Act Appeals Officer will act on all appeals under this section.
(2) We ordinarily will not adjudicate an appeal if the request becomes a matter of litigation.
(3) On receipt of any appeal involving classified information, the Privacy Act Appeals Officer must take appropriate action to ensure compliance with applicable classification rules.
(d) When will we respond to your appeal? The Privacy Act Appeals Officer will notify you of its appeal decision in writing within 30 days from the date it receives an appeal that meets the requirements of paragraph (b) of this section. We may extend the response time in unusual circumstances, such as the need to consult with another agency about a record or to retrieve a record shipped offsite for storage.
(e) What will our response include? The written response will include the Privacy Act Appeals Officer's determination whether to grant or deny your appeal in whole or in part, a brief explanation of the reasons for the determination, and information about the Privacy Act provisions for court review of the determination.
(1) Appeals concerning access to records. If your appeal concerns a request for access to records and the appeal is granted in whole or in part, we will make the records, if any, available to you.
(2) Appeals concerning amendments. If your appeal concerns amendment of a record, the response will describe any amendment made and advise you of your right to obtain a copy of the amended record. We will notify all persons, organizations or Federal agencies to which we previously disclosed the record, if an accounting of that disclosure was made, that the record has been amended. Whenever the record is subsequently disclosed, the record will be disclosed as amended. If our response denies your request for an amendment to a record, we will advise you of your right to file a statement of disagreement under paragraph (f) of this section.
(f) Statements of disagreement—(1) What is a statement of disagreement? A statement of disagreement is a concise written statement in which you clearly identify each part of any record that you dispute and explain your reason(s) for disagreeing with our denial in whole or in part of your appeal requesting amendment.
(2) How do I file a statement of disagreement? You should mark both your letter and the envelope, or the subject of your email, “Privacy Act Statement of Disagreement.” To avoid mail delivery delays caused by heightened security, we strongly suggest that you email a statement of disagreement to ipecfoia@ipec.eop.gov. Our mailing address is: Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Executive Office of the President, Washington, DC 20503, Attn: Privacy Act Appeals Officer.
(3) What will we do with your statement of disagreement? We shall clearly note any portion of the record that is disputed and provide copies of the statement and, if we deem appropriate, copies of our statement that denied your request for an appeal for amendment, to persons or other agencies to whom the disputed record has been disclosed.
(g) When appeal is required. Under this section, you generally first must submit a timely administrative appeal, before seeking review of an adverse determination or denial request by a court.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-5.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026