WASHINGTON-The Treasury Department announced Sept. 18 that it would not be altering its final customer identification record retention requirements or reversing its decision on acceptance of foreign government identification cards. Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act requires credit unions and other financial institutions only keep record of the identification checked for verification and provides for a risk-based approach to accepting foreign government issued identifications, like the matricula consular. Under pressure from House Judiciary Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) to make the record retention requirements more rigid, Treasury asked for public comment once again on the rule after it was made final May 9, 2003. The proposed rule would have required financial institutions to keep a photocopy of the method of identification used for verification, which the industry argued would be costly to store. The rule carries an Oct. 1 effective date. Following the notice of inquiry, published in the Federal Register July 1, 2003, requesting additional information, Treasury said in a statement, "After reviewing over 34,000 comments, Treasury found that no new information had been presented that had not been considered prior to issuing the final rules. Accordingly, Treasury is recommending no changes to the rules." Specifically, the proposed rule that the lawmaker favored would have required financial institutions to maintain photocopies of customers identifying documents used to open accounts for five years. The department noted, "However, Treasury does note that in some cases financial institutions, at their discretion, may find it prudent to maintain photocopies of identification documents." The credit union community has supported the rule in its final form, which allows financial institutions to make judgment calls in documenting the identities of foreign nationals. [email protected]