668.91—Filing of requests for hearings and appeals; confirmation of mailing and receipt dates.
(a) Filing of request for hearing, show-cause opportunity, or appeal.
(1)
A request by an institution or third-party servicer for a hearing or show-cause opportunity, other material submitted by an institution or third-party servicer in response to a notice of proposed action under this subpart, or an appeal to the Secretary under this subpart must be filed with the designated department official by hand-delivery, mail, or facsimile transmission.
(2)
Documents filed by facsimile transmission must be transmitted to the designated department official identified, either in the notice initiating the action, or, for an appeal, in instructions provided by the hearing official, as the individual responsible to receive them. A party filing a document by facsimile transmission must confirm that a complete and legible copy of the document was received by the Department of Education, and may be required by the designated department official to provide a hard copy of the document.
(3)
The Secretary discourages the use of facsimile transmission for documents longer than five pages.
(4)
If agreed upon by the parties, service of a document required to be served on another party may be made upon the other party by facsimile transmission.
(b) Confirmation of mailing and receipt dates.
(1)
The mailing date of a notice from a designated department official initiating an action under this subpart is the date evidenced on the original receipt of mailing from the U.S. Postal Service.
(2)
The date on which a request for a show-cause opportunity, a request for a hearing, other material submitted in response to a notice of action under this subpart, a decision by a hearing official, or a notice of appeal is received is, as applicable—
(ii)
The date following the date recorded by the delivery service as the date material was sent for a document sent by next-day delivery service.
(iii)
The date a document sent by regular mail is recorded, according to the regular business practice of the office receiving the document, as received.
(iv)
The date a document sent by facsimile transmission is recorded as received by the facsimile equipment that receives the transmission.
(c) Refusals.
If an institution or third-party servicer refuses to accept a notice mailed under this subpart, the Secretary considers the notice as being received on the date that the institution or servicer refuses to accept the notice.