The purposes of these regulations are to:

(a) Establish a procedure by which an individual can determine if the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, hereafter the “Commission,” maintains a system of records which includes a record pertaining to the individual. This does not include Commission files generated in adversary proceedings under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act; and

(b) Establish a procedure by which an individual can gain access to a record pertaining to him or her for the purpose of review, amendment and/or correction.

For the purpose of these regulations—

(a) The term individual means a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence;

(b) The term maintain includes maintain, collect, use of disseminate;

(c) The term record means any item, collection or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by the Commission, including, but not limited to, his or her employment history, payroll information, and financial transactions and that contains his or her name, or the identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual, such as social security number;

(d) The term system of records means a group of any records under control of the Commission from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual; and

(e) The term routine use means, with respect to the disclosure of a record, the use of such record for a purpose which is compatible with the purpose for which it was collected.

An individual shall submit a request to the Executive Director to determine if a system of records named by the individual contains a record pertaining to the individual. If a record pertaining to the individual does exist in the specified system of records and the individual wishes to review that record he or she shall submit a request to the Executive Director of the Commission which states the individual's desire to review his or her record.

An individual making a request to the Executive Director of the Commission pursuant to § 2705.3 shall present a written request at the Commission Office, 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite 520N, Washington, DC 20004-1710, on any business day between the hour of 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The individual submitting the request should present himself or herself at the Commission's offices with a form of identification which will permit the Commission to verify that the individual is the same individual as contained in the record requested.

As soon as practicable after verification of identity the Commission shall disclose to the individual the information contained in the record which pertains to that individual.

The individual shall submit a written request to the Executive Director which states the individual's desire to correct or to amend his or her record and details the specific corrections or amendments sought. This request is to be made in accord with provisions of § 2705.4.

Within ten working days of the receipt of the request to correct or to amend the record, the Executive Director will acknowledge in writing such receipt and promptly either—

(a) Make any correction or amendment to that portion of the record which the individual believes is not accurate, relevant, timely, or complete; or

(b) Inform the individual of the Executive Director's refusal to correct or to amend the record in accordance with the request, and the procedures established by the Commission for the individual to request a review of that refusal.

An individual who disagrees with the refusal of the Executive Director to correct or to amend his or her record may submit a request for a review of such refusal to the Chairman, Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite 520N, Washington, DC 20004-1710. The Chairman will, not later than thirty working days from the date on which the individual requests such review, complete such review and make final determination unless, for good cause shown, the Chairman extends such thirty-day period. If, after his or her review, the Chairman also refuses to correct or to amend the record in accordance with the request, the Individual may file with the Commission a concise statement setting forth the reasons for his or her disagreement with the refusal of the Commission and may seek judicial review of the Chairman's determination under 5 U.S.C. 552a(g)(1)(A).

The Commission will not disclose a record to any individual other than the individual to whom the record pertains without receiving the prior written consent of the individual to whom the record pertains, unless the disclosure has been listed as a “routine use” in the Commission's notices of its system of records, or falls within one of the special disclosure situations listed in the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)).

If an individual requests copies of his or her record, he or she will be charged a reasonable fee, excluding the cost of any search for review of the record, in advance of receipt of the pages.