Title 15

SECTION 1110.300

1110.300 Appeal.

§ 1110.300 Appeal.

(a) General. Any Person adversely affected or aggrieved by reason of NTIS denying or revoking such Person's certification under this part, or imposing upon such Person under this part a penalty, may obtain review by filing, within 30 days (or such longer period as the Director of NTIS may, for good cause shown in writing, fix in any case) after receiving notice of such denial, revocation or imposition, an administrative appeal to the Director of NTIS.

(b) Form of appeal. An appeal shall be submitted in writing to Director, National Technical Information Service, at NTIS's current mailing address as found on its Web site: www.ntis.gov., ATTENTION DMF APPEAL, and shall include the following:

(1) The name, street address, email address and telephone number of the Person seeking review;

(2) A copy of the notice of denial or revocation of certification, or the imposition of penalty, from which appeal is taken;

(3) A statement of arguments, together with any supporting facts or information, concerning the basis upon which the denial or revocation of certification, or the imposition of penalty, should be reversed;

(4) A request for hearing of oral argument before the Director, if desired.

(c) Power of attorney. A Person may, but need not, retain an attorney to represent such Person in an appeal. A Person shall designate any such attorney by submitting to the Director of NTIS a written power of attorney.

(d) Hearing. If requested in the appeal, a date will be set for hearing of oral argument before a representative of the Director of NTIS, by the Person or the Person's designated attorney, and a representative of NTIS familiar with the notice from which appeal has been taken. Unless it shall be otherwise ordered before the hearing begins, oral argument will be limited to thirty minutes for each side. A Person need not retain an attorney or request an oral hearing to secure full consideration of the facts and the Person's arguments.

(e) Decision. After a hearing on the appeal, if a hearing was requested, the Director of NTIS shall issue a decision on the matter within 120 days, or, if no hearing was requested, within 90 days of receiving the appeal. The decision of the Director of NTIS shall be made after consideration of the arguments and statements of fact and information in the Person's appeal, and the hearing of oral argument if a hearing was requested, but the Director of NTIS at his or her discretion and with due respect for the rights and convenience of the Person and the agency, may call for further statements on specific questions of fact or may request additional evidence in the form of affidavits on specific facts in dispute. After the original decision is issued, an appellant shall have 30 days (or a date as may be set by the Director of NTIS before the original period expires) from the date of the decision to request a reconsideration of the matter. The Director's decision becomes final 30 days after being issued, if no request for reconsideration is filed, or on the date of final disposition of a decision on a petition for reconsideration.

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