Regulations last checked for updates: Nov 22, 2024
Title 17 - Commodity and Securities Exchanges last revised: Nov 19, 2024
§ 160.4 - Initial privacy notice to consumers required.
(a) Initial notice requirement. You must provide a clear and conspicuous notice that accurately reflects your privacy policies and practices to:
(1) Customer. An individual who becomes your customer, not later than when you establish a customer relationship, except as provided in paragraph (e) of this section; and
(2) Consumer. A consumer, before you disclose any nonpublic personal information about the consumer to any nonaffiliated third party, if you make such a disclosure other than as authorized by §§ 160.14 and 160.15.
(b) When initial notice to a consumer is not required. You are not required to provide an initial notice to a consumer under paragraph (a) of this section if:
(1) You do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about the consumer to any nonaffiliated third party other than as authorized by §§ 160.14 and 160.15; and
(2) You do not have a customer relationship with the consumer.
(c) When you establish a customer relationship—(1) General rule. You establish a customer relationship when you and the consumer enter into a continuing relationship.
(2) Examples of establishing customer relationship. You establish a customer relationship when the consumer:
(i) Instructs you to execute a commodity interest transaction for the consumer;
(ii) Opens a retail forex account, or opens a commodity interest account through an introducing broker or with a futures commission merchant that clears transactions for its customers through you on a fully-disclosed basis;
(iii) Transmits specific orders for commodity interest transactions to you that you pass on to a futures commission merchant for execution, if you are an introducing broker;
(iv) Enters into an advisory contract or subscription with you, whether in writing or orally, and whether you provide standardized, or individually tailored commodity trading advice based on the customer's commodity interest or cash market positions or other circumstances or characteristics, if you are a commodity trading adviser; or
(v) Provides to you funds, securities, or property for an interest in a commodity pool, if you are a commodity pool operator.
(d) Existing customers. When an existing customer obtains a new financial product or service from you that is to be used primarily for personal, family or household purposes, you satisfy the initial notice requirements of paragraph (a) of this section as follows:
(1) You may provide a revised privacy notice under § 160.8 that covers the customer's new financial product or service; or
(2) If the initial, revised or annual notice that you most recently provided to that customer was accurate with respect to the new financial product or service, you do not need to provide a new privacy notice under paragraph (a) of this section.
(e) Exceptions to allow subsequent delivery of notice. (1) You may provide the initial notice required by paragraph (a)(1) of this section within a reasonable time after you establish a customer relationship if:
(i) Establishing the customer relationship is not at the customer's election;
(ii) Providing notice not later than when you establish a customer relationship would substantially delay the customer's transaction and the customer agrees to receive the notice at a later time;
(iii) A nonaffiliated financial institution establishes a customer relationship between you and a consumer without your prior knowledge; or
(iv) You have established a customer relationship with a customer in a bulk transfer in accordance with § 1.65, if you are a transferee futures commission merchant, retail foreign exchange dealer or introducing broker.
(2) Examples of exceptions—(i) Not at customer's election. Establishing a customer relationship is not at the customer's election if you acquire the customer's commodity interest account from another financial institution and the customer does not have a choice about your acquisition.
(ii) Substantial delay of customer's transaction. Providing notice not later than when you establish a customer relationship would substantially delay the customer's transaction when you and the individual agree over the telephone to enter into a customer relationship involving prompt delivery of the financial product or service.
(iii) No substantial delay of customer's transaction. Providing notice not later than when you establish a customer relationship would not substantially delay the customer's transaction when the relationship is initiated in person at your office or through other means by which the customer may view the notice, such as on a web site.
(f) Delivery of notice. When you are required by this section to deliver an initial privacy notice, you must deliver it according to the provisions of § 160.9. If you use a short-form initial notice for non-customers according to § 160.6(d), you may deliver your privacy notice as provided in section § 160.6(d)(3).
[66 FR 21252, Apr. 27, 2001, as amended at 75 FR 55451, Sept. 10, 2010]
§ 160.5 - Annual privacy notice to customers required.
(a)(1) General rule. Except as provided by paragraph (d) of this section, you must provide a clear and conspicuous notice to customers that accurately reflects your privacy policies and practices not less than annually during the life of the customer relationship. Annually means at least once in any period of 12 consecutive months during which that relationship exists. You may define the 12-consecutive-month period, but you must apply it to the customer on a consistent basis.
(2) Example. You provide notice annually if you define the 12-consecutive-month period as a calendar year and provide the annual notice to the customer once in each calendar year following the calendar year in which you provided the initial notice. For example, if a customer opens an account on any day of year 1, you must provide an annual notice to that customer by December 31 of year 2.
(b)(1) Termination of customer relationship. You are not required to provide an annual notice to a former customer.
(2) Examples. Your customer becomes a former customer when:
(i) The individual's commodity interest account is closed;
(ii) The individual's advisory contract or subscription is terminated or expires; or
(iii) The individual has redeemed all of his or her units in your pool.
(c) Delivery of notice. When you are required by this section to deliver an annual privacy notice, you must deliver it in the manner provided by § 160.9.
(d) Exception to annual privacy notice requirement. (1) You are not required to deliver an annual privacy notice if you:
(i) Provide nonpublic personal information to nonaffiliated third parties only in accordance with the provisions of §§ 160.13, 160.14, and 160.15 and any other exceptions adopted by the Commission pursuant to section 504(b) of the GLB Act; and
(ii) Have not changed your policies and practices with regard to disclosing nonpublic personal information from the policies and practices that were disclosed to the customer under § 160.6(a)(2) through (5) and § 160.6(a)(9) in the most recent privacy notice sent to the customer pursuant to this part.
(2) Delivery of annual privacy notice after you no longer meet requirements for exception. If you have been excepted from delivering an annual privacy notice pursuant to paragraph (d)(1) of this section and change your policies or practices in such a way that you no longer meet the requirements for that exception, you must comply with paragraph (d)(2)(i) or (ii) of this section, as applicable.
(i) Changes preceded by a revised privacy notice. If you no longer meet the requirements of paragraph (d)(1) of this section because you change your policies or practices in such a way that § 160.8 of this part requires you to provide a revised privacy notice, you must provide an annual privacy notice in accordance with the timing requirements in paragraph (a) of this section, treating the revised privacy notice as an initial privacy notice.
(ii) Changes not preceded by a revised privacy notice. If you no longer meet the requirements of paragraph (d)(1) of this section because you change your policies or practices in such a way that § 160.8 of this part does not require you to provide a revised privacy notice, you must provide an annual privacy notice within 100 days of the change in your policies or practices that causes you to no longer meet the requirements of paragraph (d)(1) of this section.
[66 FR 21252, Apr. 27, 2001, as amended at 84 FR 17345, Apr. 25, 2019]
§ 160.6 - Information to be included in privacy notices.
(a) General rule. The initial, annual, and revised privacy notices that you provide under §§ 160.4, 160.5 and 160.8 must include each of the following items of information that applies to you or to the consumers to whom you send your privacy notice, in addition to any other information you wish to provide:
(1) The categories of nonpublic personal information that you collect;
(2) The categories of nonpublic personal information that you disclose;
(3) The categories of affiliates and nonaffiliated third parties to whom you disclose nonpublic personal information, other than those parties to whom you disclose information under §§ 160.14 and 160.15;
(4) The categories of nonpublic personal information about your former customers that you disclose and the categories of affiliates and nonaffiliated third parties to whom you disclose nonpublic personal information about your former customers, other than those parties to whom you disclose information under §§ 160.14 and 160.15;
(5) If you disclose nonpublic personal information to a nonaffiliated third party under § 160.13 (and no other exception applies to that disclosure), a separate statement of the categories of information you disclose and the categories of third parties with whom you have contracted;
(6) An explanation of the consumer's rights under § 160.10(a) to opt out of the disclosure of nonpublic personal information to nonaffiliated third parties, including the method(s) by which the consumer may exercise that right at that time;
(7) Any disclosures that you make under § 603(d)(2)(A)(iii) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a(d)(2)(A)(iii)) (that is, notices regarding the ability to opt out of disclosures of information among affiliates);
(8) Your policies and practices with respect to protecting the confidentiality and security of nonpublic personal information; and
(9) Any disclosure that you make under paragraph (b) of this section.
(b) Description of nonaffiliated third parties subject to exceptions. If you disclose nonpublic personal information to third parties as authorized under §§ 160.14 and 160.15, you are not required to list those exceptions in the initial or annual privacy notices required by §§ 160.4 and 160.5. When describing the categories with respect to those parties, it is sufficient to state that you make disclosures to other nonaffiliated companies:
(1) For your everyday business purposes, such as [include all that apply] to process transactions, maintain account(s), respond to court orders and legal investigations, or report to credit bureaus; or
(2) As permitted by law.
(c) Examples—(1) Categories of nonpublic personal information that you collect. You satisfy the requirement to categorize the nonpublic personal information that you collect if you list the following categories, as applicable:
(i) Information from the consumer;
(ii) Information about the consumer's transactions with you or your affiliates;
(iii) Information about the consumer's transactions with nonaffiliated third parties; and
(iv) Information from a consumer reporting agency.
(2) Categories of nonpublic personal information you disclose. (i) You satisfy the requirement to categorize the nonpublic personal information you disclose if you list the categories described in paragraph (e)(1) of this section, as applicable, and a few examples to illustrate the types of information in each category.
(ii) If you reserve the right to disclose all of the nonpublic personal information about consumers that you collect, you may simply state that fact without describing the categories or examples of the nonpublic personal information you disclose.
(3) Categories of affiliates and nonaffiliated third parties to whom you disclose. You satisfy the requirement to categorize the affiliates and nonaffiliated third parties to whom you disclose nonpublic personal information if you list the following categories, as applicable, and a few examples to illustrate the types of third parties in each category:
(i) Financial service providers;
(ii) Non-financial companies; and
(iii) Others.
(4) Disclosures under exception for service providers and joint marketers. If you disclose nonpublic personal information under the exception in § 160.13 to a nonaffiliated third party to market products or services that you offer alone or jointly with another financial institution, you satisfy the disclosure requirement of paragraph (a)(5) of this section if you:
(i) List the categories of nonpublic personal information you disclose, using the same categories and examples you used to meet the requirements of paragraph (a)(2) of this section, as applicable; and
(ii) State whether the third party is:
(A) A service provider that performs marketing services on your behalf or on behalf of you and another financial institution; or
(B) A financial institution with which you have a joint marketing agreement.
(5) Simplified notices. If you do not disclose, and do not wish to reserve the right to disclose, nonpublic personal information to affiliates or nonaffiliated third parties except as authorized under §§ 160.14 and 160.15, you may simply state that fact, in addition to information you must provide under paragraphs (a)(1), (a)(8), (a)(9) and (b) of this section.
(6) Confidentiality and security. You describe your policies and practices with respect to protecting the confidentiality and security of nonpublic personal information if you do both of the following:
(i) Describe in general terms who is authorized to have access to the information; and
(ii) State whether you have security practices and procedures in place to ensure the confidentiality of the information in accordance with your policy. You are not required to describe technical information about the safeguards you use.
(d) Short-form initial notice with opt out notice for non-customers. (1) You may satisfy the initial notice requirements in §§ 160.4(a)(2), 160.7(b) and 160.7(c) for a consumer who is not a customer by providing a short-form initial notice at the same time as you deliver an opt out notice as required in 160.7.
(2) A short-form initial notice must:
(i) Be clear and conspicuous;
(ii) State that your privacy notice is available upon request; and
(iii) Explain a reasonable means by which the consumer may obtain your privacy notice.
(3) You must deliver your short-form initial notice according to § 160.9. You are not required to deliver your privacy notice with your short-form initial notice. You instead may simply provide the consumer a reasonable means to obtain your privacy notice. If a consumer who receives your short-form notice requests your privacy notice, you must deliver your privacy notice according to § 160.9.
(4) Examples of obtaining privacy notice. You provide a reasonable means by which a consumer may obtain a copy of your privacy notice if you:
(i) Provide a toll-free telephone number that the consumer may call to request the notice; or
(ii) For a consumer who conducts business in person at your office, maintain copies of the notice on hand that you provide to the consumer immediately upon request.
(e) Future disclosures. Your notice may include:
(1) Categories of nonpublic personal information that you reserve the right to disclose in the future, but do not currently disclose; and
(2) Categories of affiliates and nonaffiliated third parties to whom you reserve the right in the future to disclose, but to whom you do not currently disclose, nonpublic personal information.
(f) Model privacy form. Pursuant to § 160.2(a) of this part, a model privacy form that meets the notice content requirements of this section is included in appendix A of this part.
[66 FR 21252, Apr. 27, 2001, as amended at 74 FR 62974, Dec. 1, 2009]
§ 160.7 - Form of opt out notice to consumers; opt out methods.
(a)(1) Form of opt out notice. If you are required to provide an opt out notice under § 160.10(a), you must provide a clear and conspicuous notice to each of your consumers that accurately explains the right to opt out under that section. The notice must state:
(i) That you disclose or reserve the right to disclose nonpublic personal information about your consumer to a nonaffiliated third party;
(ii) That the consumer has the right to opt out of that disclosure; and
(iii) A reasonable means by which the consumer may exercise the opt out right.
(2) Examples—(i) Adequate opt out notice. You provide adequate notice that the consumer can opt out of the disclosure of nonpublic personal information to a nonaffiliated third party if you:
(A) Identify all of the categories of nonpublic personal information that you disclose or reserve the right to disclose, and all of the categories of nonaffiliated third parties to which you disclose the information, as described in § 160.6(a)(2) and (3), and state that the consumer can opt out of the disclosure of that information; and
(B) Identify the financial products or services that the consumer obtains from you, either singly or jointly, to which the opt out direction would apply.
(ii) Reasonable means to opt out. You provide a reasonable means to exercise an opt out right if you:
(A) Designate check-off boxes in a prominent position on the relevant forms with the opt out notice;
(B) Include a reply form together with the opt out notice;
(C) Provide an electronic means to opt out, such as a form that can be sent via electronic mail or a process at your web site, if the consumer agrees to the electronic delivery of information; or
(D) Provide a toll-free telephone number that consumers may call to opt out.
(iii) Unreasonable opt out means. You do not provide a reasonable means of opting out if:
(A) The only means of opting out is for the consumer to write his or her own letter to exercise that opt out right; or
(B) The only means of opting out as described in any notice subsequent to the initial notice is to use a check-off box that you provided with the initial notice but did not include with the subsequent notice.
(iv) Specific opt out means. You may require each consumer to opt out through a specific means, as long as that means is reasonable for the consumer.
(b) Same form as initial notice permitted. You may provide the opt out notice together with or on the same written or electronic form, as the initial notice you provide in accordance with § 160.4.
(c) Initial notice required when opt out notice delivered subsequent to initial notice. If you provide the opt out notice after the initial notice in accordance with § 160.4, you must also include a copy of the initial notice with the opt out notice in writing, or, if the consumer agrees, electronically.
(d) Joint relationships. (1) If two or more consumers jointly obtain a financial product or service from you, you may provide a single opt out notice; however, you must honor a request from one or more joint account holders for a separate opt out notice. Your opt out notice must explain how you will treat an opt out direction by a joint consumer.
(2) Any of the joint consumers may exercise the right to opt out. You may either:
(i) Treat an opt out direction by a joint consumer as applying to all of the associated joint consumers; or
(ii) Permit each joint consumer to opt out separately.
(3) If you permit each joint consumer to opt out separately, you must permit one of the joint consumers to opt out on behalf of all of the joint consumers.
(4) You may not require all joint consumers to opt out before you implement any opt out direction.
(5) Example. If John and Mary have a joint trading account with you and arrange for you to send statements to John's address, you may do any of the following, but you must explain in your opt out notice which opt out policy you will follow:
(i) Send a single opt out notice to John's address, but you must accept an opt out direction from either John or Mary;
(ii) Treat an opt out direction by either John or Mary as applying to the entire account. If you do so, and John opts out, you may not require Mary to opt out as well before implementing John's opt out direction; or
(iii) Permit John and Mary to make different opt out directions. If you do so:
(A) You must permit John and Mary to opt out for each other.
(B) If both opt out, you must permit both to notify you in a single response (such as on a form or through a telephone call).
(C) If John opts out and Mary does not, you may only disclose nonpublic personal information about Mary, but not about John, and not about John and Mary jointly.
(e) Time to comply with opt out. You must comply with a consumer's opt out direction as soon as reasonably practicable after you receive it.
(f) Continuing right to opt out. A consumer may exercise the right to opt out at any time.
(g) Duration of consumer's opt out direction. (1) A consumer's direction to opt out under this section is effective until the consumer revokes it in writing, either by hard copy or, if the consumer agrees, electronically.
(2) When a customer relationship terminates, the customer's opt out direction continues to apply to the nonpublic personal information that you collected during or related to that relationship. If the individual subsequently establishes a new customer relationship with you, the opt out direction that applied to the former relationship does not apply to the new relationship.
(h) Delivery. When you are required by this section to deliver an opt out notice, you must deliver it according to § 160.9.
(i) Model privacy form. Pursuant to § 160.2(a) of this part, a model privacy form that meets the notice content requirements of this section is included in appendix A of this part.
[66 FR 21252, Apr. 27, 2001, as amended at 74 FR 62974, Dec. 1, 2009]
§ 160.8 - Revised privacy notices.
(a) General rule. Except as otherwise authorized in this part, you must not, directly or through any affiliate, disclose any nonpublic personal information about a consumer to a nonaffiliated third party other than as described in the initial notice that you provided to that consumer under § 160.4, unless:
(1) You have provided to the consumer a clear and conspicuous revised notice that accurately describes your policies and practices;
(2) You have provided to the consumer a new opt out notice;
(3) You have given the consumer a reasonable opportunity, before you disclose the information to the nonaffiliated third party, to opt out of the disclosure; and
(4) The consumer does not opt out.
(b) Examples. (1) Except as otherwise permitted by §§ 160.13, 160.14, and 160.15, you must provide a revised notice before you:
(i) Disclose a new category of nonpublic personal information to any nonaffiliated third party;
(ii) Disclose nonpublic personal information to a new category of nonaffiliated third party; or
(iii) Disclose nonpublic personal information about a former customer to a nonaffiliated third party, if that former customer has not had the opportunity to exercise an opt out right regarding that disclosure.
(2) A revised notice is not required if you disclose nonpublic personal information to a new nonaffiliated third party that you adequately described in your prior notice.
(c) Delivery. When you are required to deliver a revised privacy notice by this section, you must deliver it according to § 160.9.
§ 160.9 - Delivering privacy and opt out notices.
(a) How to provide notices. You must provide any privacy notices and opt out notices, including short-form initial notices that this part requires so that each consumer can reasonably be expected to receive actual notice in writing either in hard copy or, if the consumer agrees, electronically.
(b)(1) Examples of reasonable expectation of actual notice. You may reasonably expect that a consumer will receive actual notice if you:
(i) Hand-deliver a printed copy of the notice to the consumer;
(ii) Mail a printed copy of the notice to the last known address of the consumer; or
(iii) For the consumer who conducts transactions electronically, post the notice on the electronic site and require the consumer to acknowledge receipt of the notice as a necessary step to obtaining a particular financial service or product.
(2) Examples of unreasonable expectation of actual notice. You may not, however, reasonably expect that a consumer will receive actual notice of your privacy policies and practices if you:
(i) Only post a sign in your branch or office or generally publish advertisements of your privacy policies and practices; or
(ii) Send the notice via electronic mail to a consumer who does not obtain a financial product or service from you electronically.
(c) Annual notices only. You may reasonably expect that a consumer will receive actual notice of your annual privacy notice if:
(1) The customer uses your web site to access financial products and services electronically and agrees to receive notices at the web site and you post your current privacy notice continuously in a clear and conspicuous manner on the web site; or
(2) The customer has requested that you refrain from sending any information regarding the customer relationship, and your current privacy notice remains available to the customer upon request.
(d) Oral description of notice insufficient. You may not provide any notice required by this part solely by orally explaining the notice, either in person or over the telephone.
(e) Retention or accessibility of notices for customers. (1) For customers only, you must provide the initial notice required by § 160.4(a)(1), the annual notice required by § 160.5(a), and the revised notice required by § 160.8, so that the customer can retain them or obtain them later in writing or, if the customer agrees, electronically.
(2) Examples of retention or accessibility. You provide a privacy notice to the customer so that the customer can retain it or obtain it later if you:
(i) Hand-deliver a printed copy of the notice to the customer;
(ii) Mail a printed copy of the notice to the last known address of the customer; or
(iii) Make your current privacy notice available on a web site (or a link to another web site) for the customer who obtains a financial product or service electronically and agrees to receive the notice at the web site.
(f) Joint notice with other financial institutions. You may provide a joint notice from you and one or more of your affiliates or other financial institutions, as identified in the notice, as long as the notice is accurate with respect to you and the other institutions.
(g) Joint relationships. If two or more customers jointly obtain a financial product or service from you, you may satisfy the initial, annual, and revised notice requirements of paragraph (a) of this section by providing one notice to those customers jointly; however, you must honor a request by one or more joint account holders for a separate notice.
source: 66 FR 21252, Apr. 27, 2001, unless otherwise noted.
cite as: 17 CFR 160.6