[Ansil849]

> But if the statement was true and accurate I would just take it as a helpful reminder of the timeframe.

No. Absolutely not. A helpful reminder of the timeframe would be "the deadline for our study is ..., please try to send your response by then if you wish to be included."

Quoting legal code is not at all a helpful reminder of a timeframe, but is a direct implication of legal ramifications for failure to comply.

[phkahler]

IMHO that is the most significant part of this. Any question about the intent is clearly tipped toward legal trouble by that.