(a)(1) This section provides for delegations of authority by the Chairman of the Surface Transportation Board to individual Board employees.

(2) The Chairman of the Board may remove for disposition any matter delegated under this section, and any matter delegated under this section may be referred by the Board employee to the Chairman for disposition.

(b) The Board will decide appeals from decisions of employees acting under authority delegated under this section. Appeals must be filed within 10 days after the date of the employee's action, and replies must be filed within 10 days after the due date for appeals. Appeals are not favored and will be granted only in exceptional circumstances to correct a clear error of judgment or to prevent manifest injustice.

(c)(1) As used in this paragraph, procedural matter includes, but is not limited to, the assignment of the time and place for hearing; the assignment of proceedings to administrative law judges; the issuance of decisions directing special hearing procedures; the establishment of dates for filing statements in cases assigned for hearing under modified (non-oral hearing) procedure; the consolidation of proceedings for hearing or disposition; the postponement of hearings and procedural dates; the waiver of formal specifications for pleadings; and extensions of time for filing pleadings. It does not include interlocutory appeals from the rulings of hearing officers; nor does it include postponement of the effective date of:

(i) Decisions pending judicial review,

(ii) Decisions of the entire Board,

(iii) Cease and desist orders, or

(iv) Final decisions where petitions for discretionary review have been filed under 49 CFR 1115.3.

(2) Unless otherwise ordered by the Board in individual proceedings, authority to dispose of procedural matters is delegated to administrative law judges or Board Members in proceedings assigned to them.

(3) Unless otherwise ordered by the Board in individual proceedings, authority to dispose of routine procedural matters in proceedings assigned for handling under modified procedure, other than those assigned to an administrative law judge or a Board Member, is assigned to the Director of the Office of Proceedings. The Director of the Office of Proceedings shall also have authority, unless otherwise ordered by the Chairman or by a majority of the Board in individual proceedings, to decide whether complaint proceedings shall be handled under the modified procedure or be assigned for oral hearings. In carrying out these duties, the Director of the Office of Proceedings shall consult, as necessary, with the General Counsel and the Director of any Board office to which an individual proceeding has been assigned.

(d) Except as provided at 49 CFR 1113.3(b)(1), authority to dismiss a complaint on complainant's request, or an application on applicant's request, is delegated to the Director of the Office of Proceedings.

(e) Authority to grant or deny access to waybills and to statistics reported under orders of the Board is delegated to the Director of the Office of Economics.

(f) Certain accounts in the Uniform Systems of Accounts, 49 CFR parts 1200 through 1207, require Board approval to use. Authority to grant or deny requests for use of these accounts is delegated to the Director of the Office of Economics.

(g) The Director of the Office of Proceedings is delegated authority, under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601, et seq., to:

(1) Sign and transmit to the Small Business Administration certifications of no significant economic effect for proposed rules, that if adopted by the Board, will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities; and

(2) Sign and transmit findings regarding waiver or delay of an initial regulatory flexibility analysis or delay of a final regulatory flexibility analysis.

(h) Issuance of certificates and decisions authorizing Consolidated Rail Corporation to abandon or discontinue service over lines for which an application under section 308 of the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973, 45 U.S.C. 748,has.

(i) In matters involving the streamlined market dominance approach, authority to hold a telephonic evidentiary hearing on market dominance issues is delegated to administrative law judges, as described in § 1111.12(d) of this chapter.