§ 0.341   Authority of administrative law judge.

   (a) After an administrative law judge has been designated to preside at a
   hearing and until he has issued an initial decision or certified the record
   to the Commission for decision, or the proceeding has been transferred to
   another administrative law judge, all motions, petitions and other pleadings
   shall be acted upon by such administrative law judge, except the following:

   (1) Those which are to be acted upon by the Commission. See § 1.291(a)(1) of
   this chapter.

   (2) Those which are to be acted upon by the Chief Administrative Law Judge
   under § 0.351.

   (b) Any question which would be acted upon by the administrative law judge
   if it were raised by the parties to the proceeding may be raised and acted
   upon by the administrative law judge on his own motion.

   (c) Any question which would be acted upon by the Chief Administrative Law
   Judge or the Commission, if it were raised by the parties, may be certified
   by  the  administrative  law  judge,  on  his own motion, to the Chief
   Administrative Law Judge, or the Commission, as the case may be.

   (d) In the conduct of routine broadcast comparative hearings involving
   applicants for only new facilities, i.e., cases that do not involve numerous
   applicants and/or motions to enlarge issues, the presiding administrative
   law judge shall make every effort to conclude the case within nine months of
   the release of the hearing designation order. In so doing, the presiding
   judge will make every effort to release an initial decision in such cases
   within 90 days of the filing of the last responsive pleading.

   (e) Upon assignment by the Chief Administrative Law Judge, Administrative
   Law Judges, including the Chief Judge, will act as settlement judges in
   appropriate cases. See 47 CFR 1.244 of this chapter.

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

   (i) 240 calendar days after a party informs the Chief Administrative Law
   Judge 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 Chief Administrative Law Judge that they have
   failed to resolve their dispute through alternative dispute resolution.

   (2) The presiding administrative law judge may toll these deadlines under
   the following circumstances:

   (i) If the complainant and defendant jointly request that the presiding
   administrative law judge 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 in the Office of Administrative Law Judges.

   [ 29 FR 6442 , May 16, 1964, as amended at  37 FR 19372 , Sept. 20, 1972;  41 FR 14870 , Apr. 8, 1976;  56 FR 792 , Jan. 9, 1991;  62 FR 4170 , Jan. 29, 1997;  76 FR 60671 , Sept. 29, 2011]

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