§  1.730   Discovery.

   (a) A complainant may file with the Commission and serve on a
   defendant, concurrently with its complaint, up to 10 written
   interrogatories. A defendant may file with the Commission and serve on
   a complainant, concurrently with its answer, up to 10 written
   interrogatories. A complainant may file with the Commission and serve
   on a defendant, concurrently with its reply, up to five additional
   written interrogatories. Subparts of any interrogatory will be counted
   as separate interrogatories for purposes of compliance with this limit.
   Interrogatories filed and served pursuant to this procedure may be used
   to seek discovery of any non-privileged matter that is relevant to the
   material facts in dispute in the pending proceeding. This procedure may
   not be employed for the purpose of delay, harassment, or obtaining
   information that is beyond the scope of permissible inquiry related to
   the material facts in dispute in the proceeding.

   (b) Interrogatories filed and served pursuant to paragraph (a) of this
   section shall contain an explanation of why the information sought in
   each interrogatory is both necessary to the resolution of the dispute
   and not available from any other source.

   (c) Unless otherwise directed by the Commission, within seven calendar
   days, a responding party shall file with the Commission and serve on
   the propounding party any opposition and objections to interrogatories.
   The grounds for objecting to an interrogatory must be stated with
   specificity. Unless otherwise directed by the Commission, any
   interrogatories to which no opposition or objection is raised shall be
   answered within 20 calendar days.

   (d) Commission staff shall rule in writing on the scope of, and
   schedule for answering, any disputed interrogatories based upon the
   justification for the interrogatories properly filed and served
   pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section, and any objections or
   oppositions thereto, properly filed and served pursuant to paragraph
   (c) of this section.

   (e) Interrogatories shall be answered separately and fully in writing
   under oath or affirmation by the party served, or if such party is a
   public or private corporation or partnership or association, by any
   officer or agent who shall furnish such information as is available to
   the party. The answers shall be signed by the person making them, and
   the attorney who objects must sign any objections. The answers shall be
   filed with the Commission and served on the propounding party.

   (f) The Commission, in its discretion, may allow additional discovery,
   including, but not limited to, document production and/or depositions,
   and it may modify the scope, means and scheduling of discovery in light
   of the needs of a particular case and the requirements of applicable
   statutory deadlines.

   (g) The Commission may, in its discretion, require parties to provide
   documents to the Commission in a scanned or other electronic format
   that:

   (1) Indexes the documents by useful identifying information; and

   (2) Allows staff to annotate the index so as to make the format an
   efficient means of reviewing the documents.

   (h) A propounding party asserting that a responding party has provided
   an inadequate or insufficient response to a discovery request may file
   a motion to compel within ten days of the service of such response, or
   as otherwise directed by Commission staff, pursuant to the requirements
   of § 1.729.

   [ 83 FR 44832 , Sept. 4, 2018]