(a) In unusual circumstances, the time limits for responding to your request (or your appeal) may be extended by NCUA. If NCUA extends the time, it will provide you with written notice setting forth the reasons for such extension and the date on which a determination is expected to be dispatched. Our notice will not specify a date that would result in an extension for more than 10 working days, except as set forth in paragraph (c) of this section. The unusual circumstances that can delay NCUA's response to your request are:

(1) The need to search for, and collect the requested records from field facilities or other establishments that are separate from the office processing the request;

(2) The need to search for, collect, and appropriately examine a voluminous amount of separate and distinct records which are demanded in a single request; or

(3) The need for consultation, which will be conducted with all practicable speed, with another agency having substantial interest in the determination of the request or among two or more components of NCUA having a substantial interest in the subject matter.

(b) If you, or you and a group of others acting in concert, submit multiple requests that NCUA believes actually constitute a single request, which would otherwise satisfy the unusual circumstances criteria specified in this section, and the requests involve related matters, then NCUA may aggregate those requests and the provisions of §792.15(b) will apply.

(c) If NCUA sends you an extension notice, it will also advise you that you can either limit the scope of your request so that it can be processed within the statutory time limit or agree to an alternative time frame for processing your request. In such cases, NCUA will make available its FOIA Public Liaison and notify you of the right to seek dispute resolution services from the Office of Government Information Services.

[63 FR 14338, Mar. 25, 1998, as amended at 73 FR 30478, May 28, 2008; 81 FR 93794, Dec. 22, 2016; 82 FR 29713, June 30, 2017]