An interstate and federal or state compact, which establishes formal procedures and governance structures for the use of the Interstate Identification Index (III). It is designed to facilitate the exchange of criminal history data among states for noncriminal justice purposes and to eliminate the need for the FBI to maintain duplicate data about state offenders. Under the compact, the operation of this system is overseen by a policymaking council comprised of federal and state officials. The key concept underlying the compact is agreement among all signatory states that all criminal history information (except sealed records) will be provided in response to noncriminal justice requests from another stateregardless of whether the information being requested would be permitted to be disseminated for a similar noncriminal justice purpose within the state holding the data. The compact was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President in October 1998. The compact became effective in April 1999, following ratification by two state legislatures: Montana on April 8, 1999 and Georgia on April 28, 1999. To date, 25 additional states have entered into the compact: Nevada (May 1999); Florida (June 1999); Colorado (March 2000); Iowa (April 2000); Connecticut (June 2000); South Carolina (June 2000); Arkansas (February 2001); Kansas (April 2001); Alaska (May 2001); Oklahoma (May 2001); Maine (June 2001); New Jersey (January 2002); Minnesota (March 2002); Arizona (April 2002); Tennessee (June 2003); North Carolina (June 2003); New Hampshire (June 2003); Missouri (July 2003); Ohio (January 2004); Wyoming (February 2005); Idaho (March 2005); Maryland (May 2005); Oregon (July 2005); West Virginia (April 2006); and Hawaii (May 2006).

An "index-pointer" system for the interstate exchange of criminal history records. Under III, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) maintains an identification index of persons arrested for felonies or serious misdemeanors under state or federal law. The index includes identification information, (such as name, date of birth, race, and sex), FBI Numbers, and State Identification Numbers (SID) from each state holding information about an individual. Search inquiries from criminal justice agencies nationwide are transmitted automatically via state telecommunications networks and the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) telecommunications lines. Searches are made on the basis of name and other identifiers. The process is entirely automated and takes approximately five seconds to complete. If a hit is made against the Index, record requests are made using the SID or FBI Number, and data are automatically retrieved from each repository holding records on the individual and forwarded to the requesting agency. Participation requires that the state maintain an automated criminal history record system capable of interfacing with the III system and capable of responding automatically to all interstate and federal and state record requests.