(a) To challenge a reason to believe finding or proposed civil money penalty, the respondent must submit a written response to the Commission within forty (40) days of the Commission's reason to believe finding.

(b) The respondent's written response must assert at least one of the following grounds for challenging the reason to believe finding or proposed civil money penalty:

(1) The Commission's reason to believe finding is based on a factual error including, but not limited to, the committee was not required to file the report, or the committee timely filed the report in accordance with 11 CFR 100.19;

(2) The Commission improperly calculated the civil money penalty; or

(3) The respondent used best efforts to file in a timely manner in that:

(i) The respondent was prevented from filing in a timely manner by reasonably unforeseen circumstances that were beyond the control of the respondent; and

(ii) The respondent filed no later than 24 hours after the end of these circumstances.

(c) Circumstances that will be considered reasonably unforeseen and beyond the control of respondent include, but are not limited to:

(1) A failure of Commission computers or Commission-provided software despite the respondent seeking technical assistance from Commission personnel and resources;

(2) A widespread disruption of information transmissions over the Internet not caused by any failure of the Commission's or respondent's computer systems or Internet service provider; and

(3) Severe weather or other disaster-related incident.

(d) Circumstances that will not be considered reasonably unforeseen and beyond the control of respondent include, but are not limited to:

(1) Negligence;

(2) Delays caused by committee vendors or contractors;

(3) Illness, inexperience, or unavailability of the treasurer or other staff;

(4) Committee computer, software or Internet service provider failures;

(5) A committee's failure to know filing dates; and

(6) A committee's failure to use filing software properly.

(e) Respondent's written response must detail the factual basis supporting its challenge and include supporting documentation.

[72 FR 14667, Mar. 29, 2007]