Government Regulations Relating to Document Shredding

What is FACTA?

FACTA is a federal law designed to minimize the risk of identity theft and consumer fraud by enforcing the proper destruction of consumer information. The Federal Trade Commission of the United States (FTC) developed the Disposal Rule in November 2004 to further implement the policies set forth in FACTA. The Disposal Rule applies to businesses that utilize consumer information; however it affects every person and business in the Unites States.

The FACTA Disposal Rule, effective June 1, 2005, states that "any person who maintains or otherwise possesses consumer information for a business purpose" is required to dispose of discarded consumer information, whether in electronic or paper form. The Disposal Rule further clarifies the definition of compliance as "taking reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to or use of the information in connection with its disposal." These "reasonable measures" include:

• Burning, pulverizing, or shredding of physical documents.
• Erasure or destruction of all electronic media.
• Entering into a contract with a third party engaged in the business of information destruction.

Stop & Shred offers Secure Destruction Services that can ensure your compliance with FACTA. Stop & Shred will help you establish a Secure Destruction program, and provide the highest level of security when shredding your customer, employee, and other sensitive business information.

FACTA affects everyone

Virtually every company operating in the United States is required, as of June 2005, to securely destroy all documents and material that contain sensitive consumer information. Specifically, this rule applies to:

• Businesses that use consumer information in their everyday operations, such as banks, lenders, insurers, auto dealers, realtors, employers.
• Service providers that store consumer reports and information such as record management and information management companies.
• Service providers that destroy information, such as shredders, recyclers, waste management or technology disposal companies

Ensuring your compliance

By outsourcing information destruction services to Stop & Shred, whose core competency is managing information, businesses are able to mitigate risk and achieve legislation compliance. Businesses that attempt to complete their destruction in-house are often less productive and risk serious compliance problems.

Stop & Shred can help

Stop & Shred offers solutions that will help ensure your compliance with FACTA and other laws currently in place, including Gramm-Leach-Bliley, Sarbanes-Oxley, and HIPAA.

Document and Material Destruction - Stop & Shred manages the disposal of all different types of media, not just paper. The FACTA Disposal Rule also covers consumer information that is stores on computers, hard-drives, CD's, and other media.

Certificate for Destruction - Certificates of destruction are provided with every invoice. This gives you written confirmation that your documents have been securely destroyed in compliance with FACTA.

Penalties - According to the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), penalties for violating the rule include actual damages, statutory damages up to $1000, punitive damages per violation (with no cap on class action damages), attorneys' fees and civil penalties up to $2500.

For a copy of the Disposal Rule and the Federal Registry Notice, visit www.ftc.gov