# What Is an Administrative Subpoena? | Kodex Source: https://www.kodexglobal.com/glossary/administrative-subpoena > An administrative subpoena is issued by an agency under statutory authority, not a court. Learn what limits its reach and how to validate one. Legal Process ## Administrative Subpoena An administrative subpoena is issued by a government agency under a specific statutory grant of authority, rather than by a court or grand jury. Its reach is bounded by the statute that created it, which means the first question on receiving one is whether that agency has authority over your company at all. Also known as agency subpoena, regulatory subpoena Administrative subpoenas are the most heterogeneous instrument a company receives, because there is no single administrative subpoena. There are dozens of statutory schemes, each with different scope, and the differences matter. ### What an administrative subpoena is It is a demand for records issued by an executive or regulatory agency under authority Congress or a legislature gave it directly. No court issues it and no grand jury stands behind it. The authority comes from the enabling statute, and so do the limits. That structure produces the defining question at intake: does this agency have statutory authority that reaches this company and these records? For a court-issued instrument the answer is usually straightforward. For an administrative subpoena it genuinely may not be. ### Where its limits come from Administrative subpoenaGrand jury subpoena Issued by A government agency Prosecutors, in a grand jury’s name Source of authority A specific enabling statute The court’s authority Typical context Regulatory or civil enforcement Criminal investigation Scope limits Defined by the enabling statute Broad, bounded by relevance Enforcement if refused Agency generally must seek a court order Contempt ### What it means for a company receiving one - Identify the statute. A valid administrative subpoena should cite the authority it is issued under. If it does not, ask. - Test whether that authority reaches you. Being a company that holds data is not the same as being a regulated entity under the cited statute. - Check the scope against the statutory purpose. Authority granted for a defined regulatory purpose does not extend to records unrelated to it. - Do not treat agency letterhead as authority. Some requests that look like administrative subpoenas are voluntary requests dressed in formal language. Whether the instrument actually compels anything is worth establishing before treating it as compulsory. ### Why this one deserves extra scrutiny Because the authority varies by statute, administrative subpoenas are harder to pattern-match than court process, and harder for an intake team to reject confidently. That ambiguity is exactly what makes them attractive to forge. A fraudulent request that cites a plausible-sounding statute and arrives on agency letterhead can survive a review that would catch a fake warrant immediately, because there is no court docket to check it against. Verifying the requester matters here for the same reason it matters with emergency requests: the document itself is not self-authenticating. FAQ ### Frequently asked questions Can any agency issue an administrative subpoena? No. The power has to be granted by statute, and the grant defines its limits. An agency with subpoena authority over healthcare records does not thereby have authority over an unrelated business. Confirming that the issuing agency has statutory authority reaching your company is the first validity check. Is an administrative subpoena enforceable without going to court? Generally the agency must seek judicial enforcement if the recipient does not comply. That said, non-compliance is not cost-free, and the safer route when a subpoena appears overbroad is a formal objection rather than silence. Does it reach the contents of communications? No. Like other subpoenas, it does not overcome the Stored Communications Act’s content protection. Content generally requires a warrant. Glossary ### Related terms #### Subpoena A subpoena is a legal order compelling a person or company to produce documents or testimony. In data request work it is the lowest-threshold instrument: it does not require a judge’s prior approval and generally reaches basic subscriber information rather than the contents of communications. #### Grand Jury Subpoena A grand jury subpoena is issued in the name of a grand jury investigating potential criminal conduct, and compels the production of documents or testimony. It is issued by prosecutors without prior judicial review, and grand jury secrecy rules restrict what the prosecution may disclose about the proceeding. #### Court Order A court order is any directive issued by a judge that compels a party to act. In data request work the term usually refers to an order compelling disclosure of records, but it also covers non-disclosure orders and preservation directives, so the label alone does not tell you what an order requires. See how Kodex validates issuing authority at intake. Learn more