1. Official status. This Commentary contains interpretations of the Federal Trade Commission (Commission) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). It is a guideline intended to clarify how the Commission will construe the FCRA in light of Congressional intent as reflected in the statute and its legislative history. The Commentary does not have the force or effect of regulations or statutory provisions, and its contents may be revised and updated as the Commission considers necessary or appropriate.

2. Status of previous interpretations. The Commentary primarily addresses issues discussed in the Commission's earlier formal interpretations of the FCRA (16 CFR 600.1–600.8), which are hereby superseded, in the staff's manual entitled “Compliance With the Fair Credit Reporting Act” (the current edition of which was published in May 1973, and revised in January 1977 and March 1979), and in informal staff opinion letters responding to public requests for interpretations, and it also reflects the results of the Commission's FCRA enforcement program. It is intended to synthesize the Commission's views and give clear advice on important issues. The Commentary sets forth some interpretations that differ from those previously expressed by the Commission or its staff, and is intended to supersede all prior formal Commission interpretations, informal staff opinion letters, and the staff manual cited above.

3. Statutory references. Reference to several different provisions of the FCRA is frequently required in order to make a complete analysis of an issue. For various sections and subsections of the FCRA, the Commentary discusses the most important and common overlapping references under the heading “Relation to other (sub)sections.”

4. Issuance of staff interpretations. The Commission will revise and update the Commentary as it deems necessary, based on the staff's experience in responding to public inquiries about, and enforcing, the FCRA. The Commission welcomes input from interested industry and consumer groups and other public parties on the Commentary and on issues discussed in it. Staff will continue to respond to requests for informal staff interpretations. In proposing revisions of the Commentary, staff will consider and, where appropriate, recommend that the Commentary incorporate issues raised in correspondence and other public contacts, as well as in connection with the Commission's enforcement efforts. Therefore, a party may raise an issue for inclusion in future editions of the Commentary without making any formal submission or request to that effect. However, requests for formal Commission interpretations of the FCRA may also still be made pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Commission's Rules (16 CFR 1.73).

5. Commentary citations to FCRA. The Commentary should be used in conjunction with the text of the statute. In some cases, the Commentary includes an abbreviated description of the statute, rather than the full text, as a preamble to discussion of issues pertaining to various sections and subsections. These summary statements of the law should not be used as a substitute for the statutory text.