Complaint and Appeals Process

The Board's Information Quality Guidelines1 permit affected persons to seek and obtain correction of information maintained and disseminated by the Board that does not comply with the Board's and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidelines.2 "Affected persons" are people who may benefit from or be harmed by the disseminated information, including people who are seeking to address information about themselves and people who use the information. The benefit or harm must be directly caused by the information disseminated by the Board. Affected persons include groups, organizations, and corporations. If you are an affected person and you believe that information disseminated by the Board does not comply with the OMB or the Board's guidelines, you may submit a request for a correction of the information (1) through a rulemaking procedure or (2) by filing a correction request.

Rulemaking Procedures

When the Board publishes a request for comments in a proposed rulemaking, the public is encouraged to comment on the proposal. You may submit a comment regarding the quality of the information that is disseminated in the proposed rulemaking. The Board staff will review any comments and consider any requests for correction of the information during the comment-review process. Response to correction requests will be made a part of the final rulemaking of the Board, which will be published in the Federal Register. This means of requesting a correction of information is the only one that is part of a rulemaking procedure.

Filing a Correction Request

For information that is not part of a rulemaking procedure, you may submit a request for correction of information. The request must contain the following information:

  • a statement that your request is being submitted under the Board's information-quality guidelines;
  • a description of the report, data set, or other document that contains the information you seek to have corrected, including, when applicable, the number or title of the document in question and the date of release;
  • a description of the specific information believed to be in error and a detailed explanation of how or why the information does not comply with Board or OMB guidelines, a detailed statement of the reason you believe the information is wrong, and a statement about how it should be corrected (include specific reasons or examples);
  • a detailed explanation of how the disseminated information affects you (that is, what benefit or harm may come to you as a result of the information); and
  • contact information, including name, mailing address, fax number or email address, telephone number, and organization affiliation (if any).

You may submit your request via an online form, U.S. mail, overnight delivery, fax, or courier service.

Online Form:
https://www.federalreserve.gov/secure/forms/section515.aspx

Mailing Address:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
ATTN Office of the Chief Data Officer (Information Collection Coordination Section)
20th and Constitution Aves NW
Washington DC 20551-0001

Overnight Delivery:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
ATTN Office of the Chief Data Officer (Information Collection Coordination Section)
2001 Constitution Ave NW
Washington DC 20551-0001

Fax Number: 202-728-5856

Courier Services:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
ATTN Office of the Chief Data Officer (Information Collection Coordination Section)
2001 C Street NW
Washington DC 20551-0001

The requester is responsible for providing information needed to process a request for correction. Persons who provide a full statement of facts will help expedite the review process, and their requests will be reviewed faster than requests from those who provide few or no facts to support their requests.

Review of Requests by the Board

As a preliminary matter, it may be determined that a request does not meet the threshold requirements for processing. Requests that do not contain sufficient information to process the request, that are not from an "affected person," or that request a correction to information not covered by the Board guidelines are examples of requests that will not be processed. Requests that fail to show an error in the facts or data used to support such results also will not be processed.

A request that meets the threshold requirements for processing will be reviewed and a determination will be made about whether changes to the data are appropriate. Requests normally will be processed in the order in which they are received. Our goal is to respond to requests within 45 calendar days of receipt. If the request requires more than 45 days to resolve, the agency will inform the requester that more time is required, giving the reason and an estimated decision date. The format of the response will depend on the character and volume of requests. For example, if the Board receives numerous requests about the same item, it may provide a response through a press release or on its website. Other requests may receive an individual response by letter, email, or telephone.

Requester's Right to an Appeal

If you disagree with the decision on your request, you may submit a written request for reconsideration to the Office of the Chief Data Officer (Information Collection Coordination Section) at the address provided above. The agency official who reviews the original complaint will not review or make any determination on the appeal. The request for reconsideration should be received by the Board within 30 days of the date of the decision and should provide the reasons that the decision should be reconsidered and relevant facts that, for good cause shown, were not previously presented in your initial request. Our goal is to respond to a request for reconsideration within 45 calendar days of receipt. If the request requires more than 45 days to resolve, the agency will inform the requester that more time is required, giving the reason and an estimated decision date.

Information Quality Correspondence

At this time, the Board has received one information quality correction request. Although the request did not meet the Board's criteria as set forth in the Board guidelines, the staff responded to the request in writing. The request and the response letter are provided below.

CRE Request for Review under IQG (414 KB PDF)

FRB Response to CRE (61 KB PDF)


1. Board guidelines, entitled "Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information Disseminated by the Federal Reserve Board," available at https://www.federalreserve.gov/iq_guidelines.htm. Return to text

2. OMB guidelines, entitled "Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility, and Integrity of Information Disseminated by Federal Agencies," 67 FR 8452 (February 22, 2002), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2002-02-22/pdf/R2-59.pdf. Return to text

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Last Update: April 26, 2023