(a) Authority of senior Commissioner. When it is not feasible to convene a quorum of the Commission, the Senior Commissioner present at the principal offices of the Commission (or, during non-business hours, available in the Washington, DC area) may take emergency action on behalf of and in the name of the Commission in accordance with the procedures set forth in this section. Members of the Commission shall be considered senior in the following order: The Chairman, the Vice-Chairman, and other Commissioners in order of their length of service on the Commission. Where two or more Commissioners have commenced their service on the same date, the Commissioner whose unexpired term in office is the longest will be considered senior.

(b) Exercise of authority. Subject to the right of the Commission to review any emergency action taken as hereinafter provided, the Senior Commissioner may act on behalf of and in the name of the Commission with respect to all of the functions of the Commission except general rulemaking functions: Provided, however, That the Senior Commissioner shall not exercise any authority on behalf of the Commission (1) without consultation with such other member of the Commission as may at the time be present at the Commission's offices in Washington, DC, and without a reasonable attempt to consult, by telephone, with other members of the Commission; and (2) unless, in the opinion of the Senior Commissioner (after consulting with the General Counsel or his deputy or associate, and such other members of the Commission staff as the Senior Commissioner deems appropriate) the public interest requires that action be taken prior to the next scheduled meeting of the Commission.

(c) Report to the Commission. The exercise of Senior Commissioner authority shall be reported to the Commission within one business day thereafter either by the Senior Commissioner or at his direction, and shall be recorded by the Secretariat in the Minute Record of all official actions of the Commission. The Secretariat shall promptly notify any directly affected person of the action taken and that it was the Senior Commissioner available, rather than the Commission as a whole, who took the action.

(d) Review by the Commission. The Commission may, in the following circumstances, review any action taken under Senior Commissioner authority and may affirm, modify, alter or set aside the decision:

(1) Upon the request of any member of the Commission, any action taken by a Senior Commissioner shall be reviewed by the Commission.

(2) In the event action by a Senior Commissioner suspends, denies or revokes or otherwise directly and adversely affects any license, right or privilege of any person, that person may in writing request review by the Commission and shall be entitled to have the action of the Senior Commissioner reviewed by the Commission.

(3) The Commission may, in its discretion, review any action taken by a Senior Commissioner upon petition by any other person.

(e) Final effect of action by Senior Commissioner. In any matter, the action taken under Senior Commissioner authority shall be deemed the action of the Commission unless and until the Commission shall otherwise direct.

[41 FR 28474, July 12, 1976]