15 U.S.C. § 1681k — Public record information for employ-

Page 1596 TITLE 15—COMMERCE AND TRADE § 1681k distribution required by section 612(a)(1)(B) [15 U.S.C. 1681j(a)(1)(B)], as amended by this section, in a manner that— ‘‘(A) does not temporarily overwhelm such con- sumer reporting agencies with requests for disclo- sures of consumer reports beyond their capacity to deliver; and ‘‘(B) does not deny creditors, other users, and con- sumers access to consumer reports on a time-sen- sitive basis for specific purposes, such as home pur- chases or suspicions of identity theft, during the transition period. ‘‘(5) TIMING.—Regulations required by this subsection shall— ‘‘(A) be issued in final form not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act [Dec. 4, 2003]; and ‘‘(B) become effective not later than 6 months after the date on which they are issued in final form. ‘‘(6) SCOPE OF REGULATIONS.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Bureau shall, by rule, deter- mine whether to require a consumer reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on substantially a nationwide basis, other than one de- scribed in section 603(p) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act [15 U.S.C. 1681a(p)], to make free consumer re- ports available upon consumer request, and if so, whether such consumer reporting agencies should make such free reports available through the central- ized source described in paragraph (1)(A). ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATIONS.—Before making any deter- mination under subparagraph (A), the Bureau shall consider— ‘‘(i) the number of requests for consumer reports to, and the number of consumer reports generated by, the consumer reporting agency, in comparison with consumer reporting agencies described in sub- sections (p) and (w) [now (x)] of section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act [15 U.S.C. 1681a(p), (w) [x]]; ‘‘(ii) the overall scope of the operations of the consumer reporting agency; ‘‘(iii) the needs of consumers for access to con- sumer reports provided by consumer reporting agencies free of charge; ‘‘(iv) the costs of providing access to consumer re- ports by consumer reporting agencies free of charge; and ‘‘(v) the effects on the ongoing competitive viabil- ity of such consumer reporting agencies if such free access is required.’’ [For definitions of terms used in section 211(d) of Pub. L. 108–159, set out above, see section 2 of Pub. L. 108–159, set out as a Definitions note under section 1681 of this title.] § 1681k. Public record information for employ- ment purposes (a) In general A consumer reporting agency which furnishes a consumer report for employment purposes and which for that purpose compiles and reports items of information on consumers which are matters of public record and are likely to have an adverse effect upon a consumer’s ability to obtain employment shall— (1) at the time such public record informa- tion is reported to the user of such consumer report, notify the consumer of the fact that public record information is being reported by the consumer reporting agency, together with the name and address of the person to whom such information is being reported; or (2) maintain strict procedures designed to insure that whenever public record informa- tion which is likely to have an adverse effect on a consumer’s ability to obtain employment is reported it is complete and up to date. For purposes of this paragraph, items of public record relating to arrests, indictments, con- victions, suits, tax liens, and outstanding judgments shall be considered up to date if the current public record status of the item at the time of the report is reported. (b) Exemption for national security investiga- tions Subsection (a) does not apply in the case of an agency or department of the United States Gov- ernment that seeks to obtain and use a con- sumer report for employment purposes, if the head of the agency or department makes a writ- ten finding as prescribed under section 1681b(b)(4)(A) of this title. (Pub. L. 90–321, title VI, § 613, as added Pub. L. 91–508, title VI, § 601, Oct. 26, 1970, 84 Stat. 1133; amended Pub. L. 105–347, § 4(b), Nov. 2, 1998, 112 Stat. 3210.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 1998—Pub. L. 105–347 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), inserted heading, and added subsec. (b). Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1998 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 105–347 deemed to have same effective date as amendments made by section 2403 of Pub. L. 104–208, see section 7 of Pub. L. 105–347, set out as a note under section 1681a of this title. EFFECTIVE DATE Section effective upon the expiration of one hundred and eighty days following Oct. 26, 1970, see section 504(d) of Pub. L. 90–321, as added by Pub. L. 91–508, set out as a note under section 1681 of this title. § 1681l. Restrictions on investigative consumer reports Whenever a consumer reporting agency pre- pares an investigative consumer report, no ad- verse information in the consumer report (other than information which is a matter of public record) may be included in a subsequent con- sumer report unless such adverse information has been verified in the process of making such subsequent consumer report, or the adverse in- formation was received within the three-month period preceding the date the subsequent report is furnished. (Pub. L. 90–321, title VI, § 614, as added Pub. L. 91–508, title VI, § 601, Oct. 26, 1970, 84 Stat. 1133.) Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE Section effective upon the expiration of one hundred and eighty days following Oct. 26, 1970, see section 504(d) of Pub. L. 90–321, as added by Pub. L. 91–508, set out as a note under section 1681 of this title. § 1681m. Requirements on users of consumer re- ports (a) Duties of users taking adverse actions on basis of information contained in consumer reports If any person takes any adverse action with respect to any consumer that is based in whole