§4.5. Responsibility for responding to requests. — Inbound Citations

(b) Unless the component and the requester have agreed otherwise, or when “unusual circumstances” exist as provided for in paragraph (d) of this section, a determination whether to comply with a FOIA request shall be made by components within 20 working days (i.e., excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays) of the receipt of a request for a record under this part by the proper component identified in accordance with § 4.5(a). In instances involving misdirected requests that are re-routed pursuant to § 4.5(a), the response time shall commence on the date that the request is received by the proper component, but in any event not later than ten working days after the request is first received by any designated component. An administrative appeal, other than an appeal from a request made to the Office of the Inspector General, shall be decided within 20 working days of its receipt by the Office of the General Counsel. An administrative appeal from a request made to the Office of the Inspector General shall be decided within 20 working days of its receipt by the Office of the Inspector General Office of Counsel. The Department's failure to comply with the time limits identified in this paragraph constitutes exhaustion of the requester's administrative remedies for the purposes of judicial action to compel disclosure.