NONCRIMINAL JUSTICE APPLICANT’S PRIVACY RIGHTS
As an applicant who is the subject of a national fingerprint-based criminal history record check for
a noncriminal justice purpose (such as an application for employment or a license, an immigration
or naturalization matter, security clearance, or adoption), you have certain rights which are
discussed below. All notices must be provided to you in writing. 1 These obligations are pursuant to
the Privacy Act of 1974, Title 5, United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 552a, and Title 28 Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR), 50.12, among other authorities.
• You must be provided an adequate written FBI Privacy Act Statement (dated 2013 or later)
when you submit your fingerprints and associated personal information. This Privacy Act
Statement must explain the authority for collecting your fingerprints and associated
information and whether your fingerprints and associated information will be searched,
shared, or retained. 2
• You must be advised in writing of the procedures for obtaining a change, correction, or
update of your FBI criminal history record as set forth at 28 CFR 16.34.
• You must be provided the opportunity to complete or challenge the accuracy of the
information in your FBI criminal history record (if you have such a record).
• If you have a criminal history record, you should be afforded a reasonable amount of time
to correct or complete the record (or decline to do so) before the officials deny you the
employment, license, or other benefit based on information in the FBI criminal history
record.
• If agency policy permits, the officials may provide you with a copy of your FBI criminal
history record for review and possible challenge. If agency policy does not permit it to
provide you a copy of the record, you may obtain a copy of the record by submitting
fingerprints and a fee to the FBI. Information regarding this process may be obtained at
https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks and
https://www.edo.cjis.gov.
• If you decide to challenge the accuracy or completeness of your FBI criminal history record,
you should send your challenge to the agency that contributed the questioned information
to the FBI. Alternatively, you may send your challenge directly to the FBI by submitting a
request via https://www.edo.cjis.gov. The FBI will then forward your challenge to the
agency that contributed the questioned information and request the agency to verify or
correct the challenged entry. Upon receipt of an official communication from that agency,
the FBI will make any necessary changes/corrections to your record in accordance with the
information supplied by that agency. (See 28 CFR 16.30 through 16.34.)
• You have the right to expect that officials receiving the results of the criminal history record
check will use it only for authorized purposes and will not retain or disseminate it in
violation of federal statute, regulation or executive order, or rule, procedure or standard established by the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact Council.3
1 Written notification includes electronic notification, but excludes oral notification.
2 https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/compact-council/privacy-act-statement
3 See 5 U.S.C. 552a(b); 28 U.S.C. 534(b); 34 U.S.C. § 40316 (formerly cited as 42 U.S.C. § 14616), Article IV(c);
28 CFR 20.21(c), 20.33(d) and 906.2(d).
Privacy Act Statement
This privacy act statement is located on the back of the FD-258 fingerprint card.
Authority: The FBI’s acquisition, preservation, and exchange of fingerprints and associated
information is generally authorized under 28 U.S.C. 534. Depending on the nature of your
application, supplemental authorities include Federal statutes, State statutes pursuant to
Pub. L. 92-544, Presidential Executive Orders, and federal regulations. Providing your
fingerprints and associated information is voluntary; however, failure to do so may affect
completion or approval of your application.
Principal Purpose: Certain determinations, such as employment, licensing, and security
clearances, may be predicated on fingerprint-based background checks. Your fingerprints and
associated information/biometrics may be provided to the employing, investigating, or otherwise
responsible agency, and/or the FBI for the purpose of comparing your fingerprints to other
fingerprints in the FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) system or its successor systems
(including civil, criminal, and latent fingerprint repositories) or other available records of the
employing, investigating, or otherwise responsible agency. The FBI may retain your fingerprints
and associated information/biometrics in NGI after the completion of this application and, while
retained, your fingerprints may continue to be compared against other fingerprints submitted to
or retained by NGI.
Routine Uses: During the processing of this application and for as long thereafter as your
fingerprints and associated information/biometrics are retained in NGI, your information may be
disclosed pursuant to your consent, and may be disclosed without your consent as permitted by
the Privacy Act of 1974 and all applicable Routine Uses as may be published at any time in the
Federal Register, including the Routine Uses for the NGI system and the FBI’s Blanket Routine
Uses. Routine uses include, but are not limited to, disclosures to: employing, governmental or
authorized non-governmental agencies responsible for employment, contracting, licensing,
security clearances, and other suitability determinations; local, state, tribal, or federal law
enforcement agencies; criminal justice agencies; and agencies responsible for national security or
public safety.
As of 03/30/2018
