An accrediting entity may be authorized by the Secretary to perform some or all of the following functions:

Determining whether agencies are eligible for accreditation;

Determining whether persons are eligible for approval;

Overseeing accredited agencies and/or approved persons by monitoring their compliance with applicable requirements;

Investigating and responding to complaints about accredited agencies and approved persons (including their use of supervised providers);

Taking adverse action against an accredited agency or approved person, and/or referring an accredited agency or approved person for possible action by the Secretary;

Determining whether accredited agencies and approved persons are eligible for renewal of their accreditation or approval on a cycle consistent with § 96.60;

Collecting data from accredited agencies and approved persons, maintaining records, and reporting information to the Secretary, State courts, and other entities; and

Assisting the Secretary in taking appropriate action to help an agency or person in transferring its intercountry adoption cases and adoption records.

The Secretary may require the accrediting entity:

To utilize the Complaint Registry as provided in subpart J of this part; and

To fund a portion of the costs of operating the Complaint Registry with fees collected by the accrediting entity pursuant to the schedule of fees approved by the Secretary as provided in § 96.8.

An accrediting entity must perform all responsibilities in accordance with the Convention, the IAA, the UAA, the regulations implementing the IAA or UAA, and its agreement with the Secretary.