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It is wise to have an office that is exclusive to hosting your documents or would it be ok to rent a closed access office within another office? Do you put the issuing space renter at risk of questioning as well as risk looking for a new space to rent?
Most of the attorneys have recommended having a separate office for your 2257 records that has absolutely nothing but the records, a work desk, chair, and maybe a poster of the local football team.
Idea being to keep the scope of what the feds review limited to what's in plain sight and avoid raising any other questions.
I'm no lawyer, but from the people i've talked to, if you have an office space that is a place of business, that is open a set number of hours, and has the records available for review, you are compliant. So, for example, if you place your records in an office inside of another office, as long as there is someone there to show them to the records and answer questions, you are in compliance, as far as I know.
Chad is going to be offering a shared lease arrangement that in his view is in compliance with 2257 regulations where producers can share a lease on some space in his office, and he (or his secretary) will provide access to the records. I don't think they are the actual custodians, but simply the people who provide access.
I was actually present during a 2257 inspection when the feds inspected Robert Hill Releasing as that is the sister company for White Tiger Releasing and located in the same building. In our case as well the cases of the people that I know were inspected the feds came with a very specific listing of both films and models. They were in no way interested in what room they were kept in, only that they were all together and easily accessed. They have a list of specific scenes and the certain models that appear in those scenes. It's (in my opinion) best to keep a copy of your records in your place of business with a spare copy in some type of a safe deposit box or something off property to protect them from fire or whatever. Kind of like a spare set of keys you keep elsewhere in case something happens to your everyday set. In 95% of the people that I know personally that were inspected, they were contacted a day or so before they were actually inspected to give them the chance to have everything in order for the feds when they arrived. In most cases if a model release is not in the files for whatever reason, they give you some time(from an hour, to a day it seems) to present that ID. Now I certainly can't say if they'll change that but your best bet I would think would be to have everything the way I explained above. If they come they are at least professional, but they have a very specific agenda.
I was under the impression that the 2257 records had to be located at a primary place of business, not necessarily your adult business, but a primary place of business for your company.
Regards,
Lee
I was under the same impression, but the language actually doesn't say that.
18. USC 2257 says, in relevant part:
(c) Any person to whom subsection (a) applies shall maintain the records required by this section at his business premises, or at such other place as the Attorney General may by regulation prescribe and shall make such records available to the Attorney General for inspection at all reasonable times.
and 28 CFR 75.4 (the regulations for enforcement of 2257) says, in relevant part:
Any producer required by this part to maintain records shall make such records available at the producer's place of business (...) If the organization is dissolved, the individual who was responsible for maintaining the records on behalf of the organization, as described in §75.6(b), shall continue to maintain the records for a period of five years after dissolution.
28.CFR 75.6 (b)(3)says (talking about labeling requirements):
(3) A street address at which the records required by this part may be made available. The street address may be an address specified by the primary producer or, if the secondary producer satisfies the requirements of §75.2(b), the address of the secondary producer. A post office box address does not satisfy this requirement.
So the operative language is "place of business." I believe there was originally language about "primary place of business" in the proposed regs, but that change was probably made as there were a number of objections from producers that legitimately have many different production offices, none of which are "primary."
Keep in mind that simply putting your docs at your attorney or friend's office woudn't comply, because that would not be one of your "places of business." But if you rent an office somewhere that is available 20 hours a week, and hold it out as a place of business, and there is someone there who will make records available, then it is compliant.
Clarification: There's a reference above to model releases. Model releases are NOT part of 2257 and should NOT be stored with 2257 records. If they are stored off site, one can legitimately state that they are not available at this location and are stored elsewhere. That ensure that you are supplying what the statute requires and not any additional information. (Technically, the statute prohibits the comingling of any non-2257 documents with 2257 records, so it would be a technical records violation to store releases with 2257 records, but Agent Jarvis said at the Xbiz forum that he would not consider storing them together a violation. His word, which does not speak for the Justice Department, but probably carries some weight.
BTW, the reason that Larry Walters and Chad and others have recommended keeping the records in a separate office with no other materials around is to simply avoid giving the agents any additional opening for questions/conversation/etc. All of the attorneys I've heard speak on the subject recommend being polite and helpful, while saying absolutely as little as possible, not engaging in unnecessary conversation, and providing as bland a space as possible for them to work in.
Larry Walters produced a helpful guide of what to do/say (and not to do/say) and brings up a lot of points that the average Joe might not think about... for example, the agents ask you for a good place to eat, you tell them, and they might then go and question people there about you, who comes in with you, etc. Ditto posters on walls, things sitting on desks, etc. The agents are trained to be friendly and professional, but also trained to gather as much information as possible as innocuously as possible, so the less you give them as input (either what's in the office they are spending time in, or what you say to them) the better off you are.
Found the link to Larry Walters 2257 guide:
Im also sure that Larry Walters is going to charge his clients to keep their records in an office that he has access to, he seems to bilk money out of them any other way he can ;)
Im sure Larry has been saying this because of that very reason, its a nice way to get extra $$$ out of webmasters through fear.
Regards,
Lee
I do intend to offer a plan where someone can rent part of my office to store their records and provide staff to be there during the week. I don't plan on this idea being a great money maker but then I am not doing it out of charity either. Stay tuned for details. I have to find a new office to lease and haven't found one I like yet.
That would be well worth the money from my end for sure. I hated having my home office address on 2257 statements.