If you are not satisfied with NCUA's response to your request, you can seek dispute resolution services from the FOIA Public Liaison and the Office of Government Information Services, and you can file an administrative appeal. Your appeal must be in writing and must be filed within 90 days from receipt of the initial determination (in cases of denials of the entire request or denials of a fee waiver or reduction), or from receipt of any records being made available pursuant to the initial determination (in cases of partial denials). In the response to your initial request, the Freedom of Information Act Officer or the Inspector General (or designee), will notify you that you may appeal any adverse determination to the Office of General Counsel. The General Counsel, or designee, as set forth in this paragraph, will:

(a) Make a determination with respect to any appeal within 20 working days after the receipt of such appeal. If, on appeal, the denial of the request for records is, in whole or in part, upheld, the Office of General Counsel will notify you of the provisions for judicial review of that determination under FOIA. Where you do not address your appeal to the General Counsel, the time limitations stated above will be computed from the date of receipt of the appeal by the General Counsel.

(b) The General Counsel is the official responsible for determining all appeals from initial determinations. In case of this person's absence, the appropriate officer acting in the General Counsel's stead will make the appellate determination, unless such officer was responsible for the initial determination, in which case the Vice-Chairman of the NCUA Board will make the appellate determination.

(c) All appeals should be addressed to the General Counsel in the Central Office and should be clearly identified as such on the envelope and in the letter of appeal by using the indicator “FOIA-APPEAL.” Failure to address an appeal properly may delay commencement of the time limitation stated in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, to take account of the time reasonably required to forward the appeal to the Office of General Counsel.

[63 FR 14338, Mar. 25, 1998, as amended at 68 FR 61737, Oct. 30, 2003; 73 FR 30478, May 28, 2008; 73 FR 56938, Oct. 1, 2008; 81 FR 93795, Dec. 22, 2016; 82 FR 29713, June 30, 2017]