Title 22, Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-110
§4355 Relationship to Privacy Act and Freedom of Information Act
Title 22 › CHAPTER 53B — FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES HISTORICAL SERIES › § 4355
Summary
Records covered by the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) do not have to be made public under this law. Having a Freedom of Information Act exemption in 5 U.S.C. 552(b) alone does not let a record be left out of the FRUS series (per section 4353) or avoid the declassification rule in section 4354. The one exception is visa records covered by 8 U.S.C. 1202(f); those can be kept out of the FRUS series and, if needed, exempted from declassification.
Full Legal Text
Title 22, §4355
Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Privacy Act
Nothing in this chapter may be construed as requiring the public disclosure of records or portions of records protected under section 552a of title 5 (relating to the privacy of personal records).
(b)Freedom of Information Act
(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2), no record (or portion thereof) shall be excluded from publication in the FRUS series under section 4353 of this title, or exempted from the declassification requirement of section 4354 of this title, solely by virtue of the application of section 552(b) of title 5 (relating to the exemption of certain matters from freedom of information requirements).
(2)Records described in section 1202(f) of title 8 (relating to visa records) shall be excluded from publication in the FRUS series under section 4353 of this title and, to the extent applicable, exempted from the declassification requirement of section 4354 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
22 U.S.C. § 4355
Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110