(a) In unusual circumstances, the Office of General Counsel may extend the time limit prescribed in § 1401.7 or § 1401.9 by written notice to the FOIA requester. The notice will state the reasons for the extension and the date a determination is expected. The extension period may be divided among the initial request and an appeal but will not exceed a total of 10 working days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, or legal public holidays).

(b) The phrase “unusual circumstances” means:

(1) The requested records are located in establishments that are separated from the office processing the request;

(2) A voluminous amount of separate and distinct records are demanded in a single request; or

(3) Another agency or two or more components in the same agency have substantial interest in the determination of the request.

(c) Where unusual circumstance exist, ONDCP may provide an opportunity for amendment of the initial request so that the request may be timely processed. Refusal by the person to reasonably modify the request or arrange an alternative time frame shall be considered as a factor for purposes of 5 U.S.C. 552 (a)(6)(C).

(d) ONDCP may aggregate requests by a requester or a group of requestors where multiple requests reasonably appear to be a single request.