412. Timing of Access Following Customer Notice

The Act gives a customer 10 days following personal service of notice or 14 days following mailing of notice within which to file a court challenge to government access. These time requirements are interpreted as calendar days except where the last day for filing falls on a weekend or court holiday in which case the filing deadline is extended to the close of business for the next court day. See Rule 6(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 45(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

Because the Act permits customers to file and serve the government by mail and because the Act assumes that four days should be allowed for mail delivery, agencies seeking access to financial records should wait an additional four days to be certain that no challenge has been filed. In effect, therefore, the 10 or 14 day delay becomes a 14 or 18 day delay with time allowed for receipt by mail of the service copy of the customer's challenge papers. 12 U.S.C. §§  3405(3), 3407(3), and 3408(4)(B).