[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 49, Volume 1]
[Revised as of October 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 49CFR7.32]

[Page 66-67]
 
                        TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION
 
          Subtitle A--Office of the Secretary of Transportation
 
PART 7_PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION--Table of Contents
 
                          Subpart E_Time Limits
 
Sec.  7.32  Final determinations.

    (a) A determination with respect to any appeal made pursuant to 
Sec.  7.21 will be made within twenty Federal working days after receipt 
of such appeal except that this time limit may be extended by up to ten 
Federal working days in accordance with Sec.  7.33. The person making 
the request will be notified immediately of such determination pursuant 
to Sec.  7.21.
    (b) In general. Components ordinarily will respond to appeals 
according to their order of receipt.
    (c) Multitrack processing. (1) A component may use two or more 
processing tracks by distinguishing between simple and more complex 
appeals based on the amount of work and/or time needed to process the 
appeal, or on the number of pages involved.
    (2) A component using multitrack processing may provide persons 
making appeals in its slower track(s) with an opportunity to limit the 
scope of their appeals in order to qualify for faster processing within 
the specified limits of the component's faster track(s). A component 
doing so will contact the person making the appeal either by telephone, 
letter, facsimile, or electronic mail, whichever is most efficient in 
each case.
    (d) Expedited processing. (1) An appeal will be taken out of order 
and given expedited treatment whenever a compelling need is demonstrated 
and it is determined that the compelling need involves:
    (i) Circumstances in which the lack of expedited treatment could 
reasonably be expected to pose an imminent threat to the life or 
physical safety of an individual;
    (ii) A request made by a person primarily engaged in disseminating 
information, with an urgency to inform the public of actual or alleged 
Federal Government activity.
    (2) A request for expedited processing may be made at the time of 
the appeal or at any later time. For a prompt determination, a request 
for expedited processing must be received by the proper component, which 
is the component that is processing the appeal for the records 
requested.
    (3) A requestor who seeks expedited processing must submit a 
statement, certified to be true and correct to the best of that person's 
knowledge and belief, explaining in detail the basis for requesting 
expedited processing. For example, a requestor within the category in 
Sec.  7.31(c)(1)(ii), if not a full-time member of the news media, must 
establish that he or she is a person whose main professional activity or 
occupation is information dissemination, though it need not be his or 
her sole occupation. A requestor within the category in Sec.  
7.31(c)(1)(ii) also must establish a particular urgency to inform the 
public about the government activity involved in the request, beyond the 
public's right to know about government activity generally. The 
formality of certification may be waived as a

[[Page 67]]

matter of discretion. A person who was granted expedited processing 
under Sec.  7.31 need merely certify that the same circumstances apply.
    (4) Within ten calendar days of receipt of a request for expedited 
processing, the proper component will decide whether to grant it and 
will notify the requestor of the decision. If a request for expedited 
treatment is granted, the appeal will be given priority and will be 
processed as soon as practicable. If a request for expedited processing 
of an appeal is denied, no further administrative recourse is available.