believes is not accurate, relevant, timely or complete.

(2) Inform the individual of its refusal to amend the record in accord with the request together with the reason for such refusal and the procedures established for requesting review of such refusal by the head of the agency or his or her designee. Such notice shall include the name and business address of the reviewing official.

(3) Refer the request to the agency that has control of and maintains the record in those instances where the record requested remains the property of the controlling agency and not of the Peace Corps.

(c) In reviewing a request to amend the record the agency shall assess the accuracy, relevance, timeliness and completeness of the record with due and appropriate regard for fairness to the individual about whom the record is maintained. In making such determination, the agency shall consult criteria for determining record quality published in pertinent chapters of the Federal Personnel Manual and to the extent possible shall accord therewith.

(d) In the event the agency agrees with the individual's request to amend such record it shall:

(1) Advise the individual in writing, (2) Correct the record accordingly, and

(3) Advise all previous recipients of a record which was corrected of the correction and its substance.

(e) In the event the agency, after an initial review of the request to amend a record, disagrees with all or a portion of it, the agency shall:

(1) Advise the individual of its refusal and the reasons therefore,

(2) Inform the individual that he or she may request further review in accord with the provisions of these regulations, and

(3) Specify The name and address of the person to whom the request should be directed.

(f) In the event an individual requester disagrees with the initial agency determination, he or she may appeal such determination to the Director of the Peace Corps or his or her designee. Such request for review must be made within 30 days after receipt by the requester of the initial refusal to amend.

(g) If after review the Director or designee refuses to amend the record as requested he or she shall advise the individual requester of such refusal and the reasons for same; of his or her right to file a concise statement in the record of the reasons for disagreeing with the decision of the agency; of the procedures for filing a statement of disagreement and of the fact that such statement so filed will be made available to anyone to whom the record is subsequently disclosed together with a brief statement of the agency summarizing its reasons for refusal, if the agency decides to place such brief statement in the record. The agency shall have the authority to limit the length of any statement to be filed, such limit to depend upon the record involved. The agency shall also inform such individual that prior recipients of the disputed record will be provided a copy of both statements of the dispute to the extent that the accounting of disclosures has been maintained and of the individual's right to seek judicial review of the agency's refusal to amend the record.

(h) If after review the official determines that the record should be amended in accordance with the individual's request, the agency shall proceed as provided above in the event a request is granted upon initial demand.

(i) Final agency determination of an individual's request for a review shall be concluded with 30 working days from the date of receipt of the review request: Provided, however, That the Director or designee may determine that fair and equitable review cannot be made within that time. If such circumstances occur, the individual shall be notified in writing of the additional time required and of the approximate date on which determination of the review is expected to be completed.

§308.17 Denial of access and appeals with respect thereto.

In the event that the agency finds it necessary to deny any individual access to a record about such individual pursuant to provisions of the Privacy Act or of these regulations, a response to the original request shall be made in writing within ten working days after the date of such initial request. The de

nial shall specify the reasons for such refusal or denial and advise the individual of the reasons therefore, and of his or her right to an appeal within the agency and/or judicial review under the provisions of the Act.

(a) In the event an individual desires to appeal any denial of access, he or she may do so in writing by addressing such appeal to the attention of the Director, Peace Corps, or designee identified in such denial. Such appeal should be addressed to Director, Peace Corps, c/o Office of Administrative Services, Room P-314, 806 Connecticut Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20526.

(b) The Director, or designee, shall review a request from a denial of access and shall make a determination with respect to such appeal within 30 days after receipt thereof. Notice of such determination shall be provided to the individual making the request in writing. If such appeal is denied in whole or in part, such notice shall include notification of the right of the person making such request to have judicial review of the denial as provided in the Act.

309.35 Hearing.

309.36 Written agreement for repayment. 309.37 Administrative offset procedures. 309.38 Civil and Foreign Service Retirement Fund.

309.39 Jeopardy procedure.

Subpart E-Use of Consumer Reporting Agencies and Referrals to Collection Agencies

309.40 Use of consumer reporting agencies. 309.41 Referrals to collection agencies.

Subpart F-Compromise, Suspension or Termination and Referral of Claims

309.42 Compromise.

309.43 Suspending or terminating collection. 309.44 Referral of claims.

AUTHORITY: 31 U.S.C. 3701-3719; 5 U.S.C. 5514; 22 U.S.C. 2503(b); 31 U.S.C. 3720A; 4 CFR parts 101-105; 5 CFR part 550; 26 CFR 301.64026T.

SOURCE: 58 FR 2978, Jan. 7, 1993, unless otherwise noted.

Subpart A-General Provisions §309.1 General purpose.

This part prescribes the procedures to be used by the Peace Corps of the United States (Peace Corps) in the col

lection of claims owed to Peace Corps and to the United States.

§309.2 Scope.

(a) Applicability of Federal Claims Collection Standards (FCCS). Except as set forth in this part or otherwise provided by law, Peace Corps will conduct administrative actions to collect claims (including offset, compromise, suspension, termination, disclosure and referral) in accordance with the Federal Claims Collection Standards of the General Accounting Office and the Department of Justice, 4 CFR parts 101 through 105.

(b) This part is not applicable to:

(1) Claims against any foreign country or any political subdivision thereof, or any public international organization.

(2) Claims where the Peace Corps Director (or designee) determines that the achievement of the purposes of the Peace Corps Act, as amended, 22 U.S.C. 2501 et seq., or any other provision of law administered by the Peace Corps require a different course of action.

§309.3 Definitions.

As used in this part (except where the context clearly indicates, or where the term is otherwise defined elsewhere in this part) the following definitions shall apply:

(a) Agency means:

(1) An Executive Agency as defined by section 105 of title 5, United States Code, including the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Postal Rate Commission;

(2) A military department as defined by section 102 of title 5, United States Code.

(3) An agency or court of the judicial branch including a court as defined in section 610 of title 28, United States Code, the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands and the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation;

(4) An agency of the legislative branch, including the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives; and

(5) Other independent establishments that are entities of the Federal Government.

(b) Certification means a written debt claim form received from a creditor agency which requests the paying

agency to offset the salary of an employee.

(c) Consumer reporting agency means a reporting agency as defined in 31 U.S.C. 3701(a)(3).

(d) Creditor agency means the agency to which the debt is owed.

(e) The term debt and claim refers to an amount of money or property which has been determined by an appropriate agency official to be owed to the United States from any person, organization or entity, except another Federal agency. A debtor's liability arising from a particular contract or transaction shall be considered a single claim for purposes of monetary ceilings of the FCCS.

(f) Delinquent debt means any debt which has not been paid by the date specified by the Government in writing or in an applicable contractual agreement for payment or which has not been satisfied in accordance with a repayment agreement.

(g) Disposable pay means that part of current basic pay, special pay, incentive pay, retired pay, retainer pay, or, in the case of an employee not entitled to basic pay, other authorized pay remaining after the deduction of any amount required by law to be withheld. These deductions are described in 5 CFR 581.105(b) through (f). These deductions include, but are not limited to: Social Security withholdings; Federal, State and local tax withholdings; retirement contributions; and life insurance premiums.

(h) Employee means a current or former employee of the Peace Corps or other agency, including a member of the Armed Forces or Reserve of the Armed Forces of the United States.

(i) FCCS means the Federal Claims Collection Standards jointly published by the Department of Justice and the General Accounting Office at 4 CFR parts 101 through 105.

(j) Hearing official means an individual responsible for conducting any hearing with respect to the existence or amount of a debt claimed, and rendering a decision on the basis of such hearing. Except in the case of an administrative law judge, a hearing official may not be under the supervision or control of the Peace Corps when the Peace Corps is the creditor agency.

(k) Paying agency means the agency which employs the individual and authorizes the payment of his or her current pay. In some cases, the Peace Corps may be both the creditor and the paying agency.

(1) Notice of intent to offset or notice of intent means a written notice from a creditor agency to an employee which alleges that the employee owes a debt to the creditor agency and apprising the employee of certain administrative rights.

(m) Notice of salary offset means a written notice from the paying agency to an employee after a certification has been issued by a creditor agency, informing the employee that salary offset will begin at the next officially established pay interval.

(n) Payroll office means the payroll office in the paying agency which is primarily responsible for the payroll records and the coordination of pay matters with the appropriate personnel office with respect to an employee.

(0) Salary offset means an administrative offset to collect a debt under 5 U.S.C. 5514 by deduction at one or more officially established pay intervals from the current pay account of an employee, without the employee's consent.

(p) Salary Offset Coordination Officer means an official designated by the Director who is responsible for coordinating debt collection activities for the Peace Corps.

(q) Waiver means the cancellation, remission, forgiveness, or nonrecovery of a debt or debt related charge as permitted or required by law.

§309.4 Interest, penalties, and administrative costs.

(a) Except as otherwise provided by statute, contract or excluded in accordance with FCCS, Peace Corps will assess:

(1) Interest on unpaid claims in accordance with existing Treasury rules and regulations, unless the agency determines that a higher rate is necessary to protect the interests of the United States.

(2) Penalty charges at a rate of 6 percent a year on any portion of a claim that is delinquent for more than 90 days.

(3) Administrative charges to cover the costs of processing and handling the debt beyond the payment due date.

(b) Late payment charges shall be computed from the date of mailing or hand delivery of the notice of the claim and interest requirements.

(c) When a debt is paid in partial or installment payments, amounts received shall be applied first to outstanding penalty and administrative cost charges, second to accrued interest, and then to outstanding principal.

(d) Waiver. Peace Corps will consider waiver of interest, penalties and/or administrative costs in accordance with the FCCS, 4 CFR 102.13(g).

309.5 Designation.

The Chief Financial Officer and his or her delegates, or any person discharging the functions presently vested in the Chief Financial Officer, are designated to perform all the duties for which the Director is responsible under the foregoing statutes and Joint Regulations: Provided, however, That no compromise of a claim shall be effected or collection action terminated except with the concurrence of the General Counsel. No such concurrence shall be required with respect to the compromise or termination of collection activity on any claim in which the unpaid amount of the debt is $300 or less.

Subpart B-Salary Offset

309.6 Purpose.

The purpose of the Debt Collection Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-365), is to provide a comprehensive statutory approach to the collection of debts due the United States Government. This subpart implements section 5 thereof which authorizes the collection of debts owed by Federal employees to the Federal Government by means of salary offsets. No claim may be collected by salary offset if the debt has been outstanding for more than 10 years after the agency's right to collect the debt first accrued, unless facts material to the Government's right to collect were not known and could not reasonably have been known by the official or officials who were charged with the responsibility for discovery and collection of such debts.

$309.7 Scope.

(a) This subpart provides Peace Corps' procedures for the collection by salary offset of a Federal employee's pay to satisfy certain past due debts owed the United States Government.

(b) This subpart applies to collections by the Peace Corps from:

(1) Federal employees who owe debts to the Peace Corps; and

(2) Employees of the Peace Corps who owe debts to other agencies.

(c) This subpart does not apply to debts or claims arising under the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended (26 U.S.C. 1 et seq.); the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.); the tariff laws of the United States; or to any case where collection of a debt by salary offset is explicitly provided for or prohibited by another statute (e.g., travel advances in 5 U.S.C. 5705 and employee training expenses in 5 U.S.C. 4108).

(d) This subpart does not apply to any adjustment to pay arising out of an employee's election of coverage or a change in coverage under a Federal benefits program requiring periodic deductions from pay, if the amount to be recovered was accumulated over four pay periods or less.

(e) Nothing in this subpart precludes the compromise, suspension, or termination of collection actions where appropriate under the standards implementing the Federal Claims Collection Act (31 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.; 4 CFR parts 101 through 105).

§309.8 Applicability of regulations.

The provisions of this subpart are to be followed in instances where:

(a) The Peace Corps is owed a debt by an individual currently employed by another agency;

(b) The Peace Corps is owed a debt by an individual who is a current employee of the Peace Corps; or

(c) The Peace Corps currently employs an individual who owes a debt to another Federal agency. Upon receipt of proper certification from the creditor agency, the Peace Corps will offset the debtor-employee's salary in accordance with these regulations.

$309.9 Waiver requests and claims to the General Accounting Office.

The provisions of this subpart do not preclude an employee from requesting waiver of an overpayment under 5 U.S.C. 5584 or 8346(b), 10 U.S.C. 2774, 32 U.S.C. 716, or in any way questioning the amount or validity of a debt by submitting a subsequent claim to the General Accounting Office in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the General Accounting Office. This subpart also does not preclude an employee from requesting a waiver pursuant to other statutory provisions pertaining to the particular debts being collected.

§309.10 Notice requirements before offset.

(a) Deductions under the authority of 5 U.S.C. 5514 shall not be made unless the creditor agency first provides the employee with written notice that he/ she owes a debt to the Federal Government at least 30 calendar days before salary offset is to be initiated. When Peace Corps is the creditor agency this notice of intent to offset an employee's salary shall be hand-delivered or sent by certified mail to the most current address that is available. The written notice will state:

(1) That Peace Corps has reviewed the records relating to the claim and has determined that a debt is owed, its origin and nature, and the amount of the debt;

(2) The intention of Peace Corps to collect the debt by means of deduction from the employee's current disposable pay account until the debt and all accumulated interest is paid in full;

(3) The amount, frequency, approximate beginning date, and duration of the intended deductions;

(4) An explanation of the Peace Corps' policy concerning interest, penalties and administrative costs, including a statement that such assessments must be made unless excused in accordance with § 309.4(d);

(5) The employee's right to inspect and copy all records of the Peace Corps pertaining to the debt claimed or to receive copies of such records if personal inspection is impractical;

(6) The right to a hearing conducted by a hearing official (an administrative