(a) Upon receiving a request for documents in accordance with the rules of this part, the General Counsel or respective Assistant General Counsel serving as the Freedom of Information Act Officer of the National Endowment for the Arts shall determine whether or not the request shall be granted in whole or in part.

(1) The determination shall be made within ten (10) days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) after receipt of such request.

(2) The requestor shall be notified of the determination and the reasons that support it. When a request is denied in whole or in part, the requestor, will be notified of his or her rights to appeal the determination to the head of the agency.

(b)

(1) Any party whose request for documents has been denied in whole or in part may file an appeal no later than ten (10) working days following receipt of the notification of denial. Appeals must be addressed to the Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC 20506.

(2) The head of the agency or his delegatee shall make a determination with respect to the appeal within twenty (20) days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) after the agency has received the appeal, except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section. If, on appeal, the denial is upheld either in whole or in part, the head of the agency shall notify the party submitting the appeal of the judicial review provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(B).

(c) In unusual circumstances, the time limits prescribed to determine a request for documents with respect to initial actions or actions on appeal may be extended by written notice from the General Counsel or respective Assistant General Counsel serving as the Freedom of Information Act Officer of the National Endowment for the Arts. The notice shall describe the reason for the extension and the date on which the determination is expected to be made. No notice shall specify a date that would result in an extension of more than ten (10) days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays). As is used in this paragraph, unusual circumstances means:

(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 volumious amount of separate and distinct records which are demanded in a single request; or

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

[52 FR 48266, Dec. 21, 1987, as amended at 79 FR 9622, Feb. 20, 2014]