Who cannot be acknowledged under this part?

The Department will not acknowledge:

(a) An association, organization, corporation, or entity of any character formed in recent times unless the entity has only changed form by recently incorporating or otherwise formalizing its existing politically autonomous community;

(b) A splinter group, political faction, community, or entity of any character that separates from the main body of a currently federally recognized Indian tribe, petitioner, or previous petitioner unless the entity can clearly demonstrate it has functioned from 1900 until the present as a politically autonomous community and meets § 83.11(f), even though some have regarded them as part of or associated in some manner with a federally recognized Indian tribe;

(c) An entity that is, or an entity whose members are, subject to congressional legislation terminating or forbidding the government-to-government relationship; or

(d) An entity that previously petitioned and was denied Federal acknowledgment under part 54 of this chapter (as it existed before March 30, 1982) or part 83 (including reconstituted, splinter, spin-off, or component groups who were once part of previously denied petitioners) unless the entity meets the conditions of §§ 83.47 through 83.49.

[80 FR 37887, July 1, 2015, as amended at 90 FR 3643, Jan. 15, 2025]