96.58—Notification of accreditation and approval decisions.
(a)
The accrediting entity must notify agencies and persons that applied by the transitional application deadline of its accreditation and approval decisions on a uniform notification date to be established by the Secretary. On that date, the accrediting entity must inform each applicant and the Secretary in writing whether the agency's or person's application has been granted or denied or remains pending. The accrediting entity may not provide any information about its accreditation or approval decisions to any agency or person or to the public until the uniform notification date. If the Secretary requests information on the interim or final status of an applicant prior to the uniform notification date, the accrediting entity must provide such information to the Secretary.
(b)
Notwithstanding the provisions in paragraph (a) of this section, the accrediting entity may, in its discretion, communicate with agencies and persons that applied by the transitional application date about the status of their pending applications for the sole purpose of affording them an opportunity to correct deficiencies that may hinder or prevent accreditation or approval.
(c)
The accrediting entity must routinely inform applicants that applied after the transitional application date in writing of its accreditation and approval decisions, as those decisions are finalized, but may not do so earlier than the uniform notification date referenced in paragraph (a) of this section. The accrediting entity must routinely provide this information to the Secretary in writing.