Code of Federal Regulations Title 22. Foreign Relations § 22.1101.3 General policy:  Collection and use of personal information

(1) Collect no information of a personal nature from individuals unless authorized to collect it to achieve a function or carry out a responsibility or function of the Section.

(2) Collect from individuals only that information which is necessary to Section responsibilities or functions;

(3) Collect information, wherever possible, directly from the individual to whom it relates;

(4) Inform individuals from whom information is collected of the authority for collection, the purpose thereof, the uses that will be made of the information, and the effects, both legal and practical, of not furnishing the information;

(5) Neither collect, maintain, use nor disseminate information concerning an individual's religious or political beliefs or activities or his membership in associations or organizations, unless (i) the individual has volunteered such information for his own benefit;  (ii) the information is expressly authorized by statute to be collected, maintained, used or disseminated;  or (iii) the activities involved are pertinent to and within the scope of an authorized investigation or adjudication activity;

(6) Advise an individual's supervisors of the existence or contemplated development of any system of records which retrieves information about individuals by individual identified;

(7) Maintain an accounting of all disclosures of information to other than Section personnel;

(8) Disclose no information concerning individuals to other than Section personnel except when authorized by the Act or pursuant to a routine use published in the Federal Register;

(9) Maintain and process information concerning individuals with care in order to ensure that no inadvertent disclosure of the information is made to other than Section personnel;  and

(10) Call to the attention of the PA Officer any information in a system maintained by the Section which is not authorized to be maintained under the provisions of the Act, including information on First Amendment activities, information that is inaccurate, irrelevant or so incomplete as to risk unfairness to the individual concerned.

(1) Whether the nature of the information sought is such that it can only be obtained from a third party;

(2) Whether the cost of collecting the information from the individual is unreasonable when compared with the cost of collecting it from a third party;

(3) Whether there is a risk that information requested from the third parties, if inaccurate, could result in an adverse determination to the individual concerned;

(4) Whether the information, if supplied by the individual, would have to be verified by a third party;  or

(5) Whether provisions can be made for verification by the individual of information collected from third parties.