§ 1515.36 — Do I Have To Pay Fees If Ceq Misses The Deadline For Responding To My Request?

CEQ will not charge search fees or duplication fees if we have failed to grant or deny your request within the period described in § 1515.13, unless:

(a) CEQ determines that unusual circumstances are present, as described in § 1515.13; and

(1) CEQ finishes processing your request within 10 working days of the original deadline; or

(2) Your request seeks more than 5,000 pages of records; CEQ has provided you timely written notice of the unusual circumstances; and we have discussed with you how you could effectively limit the scope of your request (or we made at least three attempts in good faith to do so); or

(b) A court grants CEQ additional time to process your request due to exceptional circumstances, and we finish processing your request within the period set forth in a court order.