§  0.341   Authority of Administrative Law Judges and other presiding officers.

   (a) After a presiding officer (other than the Commission) has been
   designated to conduct a hearing proceeding, and until he or she has
   issued an initial decision or certified the record to the Commission
   for decision, or the proceeding has been transferred to another
   presiding officer, all motions, petitions and other matters that may
   arise during the proceeding shall be acted upon by such presiding
   officer, except those which are to be acted upon by the Commission. See
   § 1.291(a)(1) of this chapter.

   (b) Any question which would be acted upon by the presiding officer if
   it were raised by the parties to the proceeding may be raised and acted
   upon by the presiding officer on his or her own motion.

   (c) Any question which would be acted upon by the presiding officer
   (other than the Commission) may be certified to the Commission on the
   presiding officer's own motion.

   (d) Except for actions taken during the course of a hearing and upon
   the record thereof, actions taken by a presiding officer pursuant to
   the provisions of this section shall be recorded in writing and filed
   in the official record of the proceeding.

   (e) The presiding officer may waive any rule governing the conduct of
   Commission hearings upon motion or upon the presiding officer's own
   motion for good cause, subject to the provisions of the Administrative
   Procedure Act and the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.

   (f) The presiding officer may issue such orders and conduct such
   proceedings as will best conduce to the proper dispatch of business and
   the ends of justice.

   (g)(1) For program carriage complaints filed pursuant to § 76.1302 of
   this chapter that the Chief, Media Bureau refers to a presiding officer
   for an initial decision, the presiding officer shall release an initial
   decision in compliance with one of the following deadlines:

   (i) 240 calendar days after a party informs the presiding officer that
   it elects not to pursue alternative dispute resolution as set forth in
   § 76.7(g)(2) of this chapter; or

   (ii) If the parties have mutually elected to pursue alternative dispute
   resolution pursuant to § 76.7(g)(2) of this chapter, within 240 calendar
   days after the parties inform the presiding officer that they have
   failed to resolve their dispute through alternative dispute resolution.

   (2) The presiding officer may toll these deadlines under the following
   circumstances:

   (i) If the complainant and defendant jointly request that the presiding
   officer toll these deadlines in order to pursue settlement discussions
   or alternative dispute resolution or for any other reason that the
   complainant and defendant mutually agree justifies tolling; or

   (ii) If complying with the deadline would violate the due process
   rights of a party or would be inconsistent with fundamental fairness;
   or

   (iii) In extraordinary situations, due to a lack of adjudicatory
   resources available at the time.

   [ 85 FR 63171 , Oct. 6, 2020]