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Code of Federal Regulations Pertaining to U.S. Department of Labor |
| Labor |
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| Office of the Secretary of Labor |
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| Rules of Practice and Procedure for Administrative Hearings Before the Office of Administrative Law Judges |
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| Rules of Evidence |
29 CFR 18.902 - Self-authentication.
- Section Number: 18.902
- Section Name: Self-authentication.
(a) Extrinsic evidence of authenticity as a condition precedent to
admissibility is not required with respect to the following:
(1) Domestic public documents under seal. A document bearing a seal
purporting to be that of the United States, or of any State, district,
Commonwealth, territory, or insular possession thereof, or the Panama
Canal Zone, or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, or of a
political subdivision, department, officer, or agency thereof, and a
signature purporting to be an attestation or execution.
(2) Domestic public documents not under seal. A document purporting
to bear the signature in the official capacity of an officer or employee
of any entity included in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, having no
seal, if a public officer having a seal and having official duties in
the district or political subdivision of the officer or employee
certifies under seal that the signer has the official capacity and that
the signature is genuine.
(3) Foreign public documents. A document purporting to be executed
or attested in an official capacity by a person authorized by the laws
of a foreign country to make the execution or attestation, and
accompanied by a final certification as to the genuineness of the
signature and official position--
(i) Of the executing or attesting person, or
(ii) Of any foreign official whose certificate of genuineness of
signature and official position relates to the execution or attestation
or is in a chain of certificates of genuineness of signature and
official position relating to the execution or attestation. A final
certification may be made by a secretary of embassy or legation, consul,
vice consul, or consular agent of the United States, or a diplomatic or
consular official of the foreign country assigned or accredited to the
United States. If reasonable opportunity has been given to all parties
to investigate the authenticity and accuracy of official documents, the
judge may, for good cause shown, order that they be treated as
presumptively authentic without final certification or permit them to be
evidenced by an attested summary with or without final certification.
(4) Certified copies of public records. A copy of an official record
or report or entry therein, or of a document authorized by law to be
recorded or filed and actually recorded or filed in a public office,
including data compilations in any form, certified as correct by the
custodian or other person authorized to make the certification, by
certificate complying with paragraph (a) (1), (2), or (3) of this
section, with any Act of Congress, or with any rule or regulation
prescribed by the administrative agency pursuant to statutory authority,
or pursuant to executive order.
(5) Official publications. Books, pamphlets, or other publications
purporting to be issued by public authority.
(6) Newspapers and periodicals. Printed materials purporting to be
newspapers or periodicals.
(7) Trade inscriptions and the like. Inscriptions, signs, tags, or
labels purporting to have been affixed in the course of business and
indicating ownership, control, or origin.
(8) Acknowledged documents. Documents accompanied by a certificate
of acknowledgment executed in the manner provided by law by a notary
public or other officer authorized by law to take acknowledgments.
(9) Commercial paper and related documents. Commercial paper,
signatures thereon, and documents relating thereto to the extent
provided by general commercial law.
(10) Presumptions under Acts of Congress or administrative agency
rules or regulations. Any signature, document, or other matter declared
by Act of Congress or by rule or regulation prescribed by the
administrative agency pursuant to statutory authority or pursuant to
executive order to be presumptively or prima facie genuine or authentic.
(11) Certified records of regularly conducted activity. The original
or a duplicate of a record of regularly conducted activity, within the
scope of Sec. 18.803(6), which the custodian thereof or another
qualified individual certifies
(i) Was made, at or near the time of the occurrence of the matters
set forth, by, or from information transmitted by, a person with
knowledge of those matters,
(ii) Is kept in the course of the regularly conducted activity, and
(iii) Was made by the regularly conducted activity as a regular
practice, unless the sources of information or the method or
circumstances of preparation indicate lack of trustworthiness. A record
so certified is not self-authenticating under this paragraph unless the
proponent makes an intention to offer it known to the adverse party and
makes it available for inspection sufficiently in advance of its offer
in evidence to provide the adverse party with a fair opportunity to
object or meet it. As used in this subsection, certifies means, with
respect to a domestic record, a written declaration under oath subject
to the penalty of perjury and, with respect to a foreign record, a
written declaration signed in a foreign country which, if falsely made,
would subject the maker to criminal penalty under the laws of that
country.
(12) Bills, estimates, and reports. In actions involving injury,
illness, disease, death, disability, or physical or mental impairment,
or damage to property, the following bills, estimates, and reports
provided that a copy of said bill, estimate, or report has been served
upon the adverse party sufficiently in advance of the hearing to provide
the adverse party with a fair opportunity to prepare to object or meet
it:
(i) Hospital bills on the official letterhead or billhead of the
hospital, when dated and itemized.
(ii) Bills of doctors and dentists, when dated and containing a
statement showing the date of each visit and the charge therefor.
(iii) Bills of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and
physical therapists or other licensed health care providers, when dated
and containing an itemized statement of the days and hours of service
and the charges therefor.
(iv) Bills for medicine, eyeglasses, prosthetic devices, medical
belts or similar items, when dated and itemized.
(v) Property repair bills or estimates, when dated and itemized,
setting forth the charges for labor and material. In the case of an
estimate, the party intending to offer the estimate shall forward with
his notice to the adverse party, together with a copy of the estimate, a
statement indicating whether or not the property was repaired, and, if
so, whether the estimated repairs were made in full or in part and by
whom, the cost thereof, together with a copy of the bill therefor.
(vi) Reports of past earnings, or of the rate of earnings and time
lost from work or lost compensation, prepared by an employer on official
letterhead, when dated and itemized. The adverse party may not dispute
the authenticity, therefor, unless the adverse party files and serves
written objection thereto sufficiently in advance of the hearing stating
the objections, and the grounds therefor, the adverse party will make if
the bill, estimate, or report is offered at the time of the hearing. An
adverse party may call the authors of the bill, estimate, or report as a
witness and examine the witness as if under cross-examination.
(13) Medical reports. In actions involving injury, illness, disease,
death, disability or physical or mental impairment, doctor, hospital,
laboratory and other medical reports made for purposes of medical
treatment, provided that a copy of the report has been filed and served
upon the adverse party sufficiently in advance of the hearing to provide
the adverse party with a fair opportunity to prepare to object or meet
it. The adverse party may not object to the authenticity of the report
unless the adverse party files and serves written objection thereto
sufficiently in advance of the hearing stating the objections, and the
grounds therefor, that the adverse party will make if the report is
offered at the time of the hearing. An adverse party may call the author
of the medical report as a witness and examine the witness as if under
cross-examination.
(14) Written reports of expert witnesses. Written reports of an
expert witness prepared with a view toward litigation including but not
limited to a diagnostic report of a physician, including inferences and
opinions, when on official letterhead, when dated, when including a
statement of the experts qualifications, when including a summary of
experience as an expert witness in litigation, when including the basic
facts, data, and opinions forming the basis of the inferences or
opinions, and when including the reasons for or explanation of the
inferences or opinions, so far as admissible under the rules of evidence
applied as though the witness was then present and testifying, provided
that a copy of the report has been filed and served upon the adverse
party sufficiently in advance of the hearing to provide the adverse
party with a fair opportunity to prepare to object or meet it. The
adverse party may not object to the authenticity of the report unless
the adverse party files and serves written objection thereto
sufficiently in advance of the hearing stating the objections, and the
grounds therefor, that the adverse party will make if the report is
offered at the time of the hearing. An adverse party may call the expert
as a witness and examine the witness as if under cross-examination.
(15) Written statements of lay witnesses. Written statements of a
lay witness made under oath or affirmation and subject to the penalty of
perjury, so far as admissible under the rules of evidence applied as
though the witness was then present and testifying, provided that:
(i) A copy of the written statement has been filed and served upon
the adverse party sufficiently in advance of the hearing to provide the
adverse party with a fair opportunity to prepare to object or meet it,
and
(ii) If the declarant is reasonably available as a witness, as
determined by the judge, no adverse party has sufficiently in advance of
the hearing filed and served upon the noticing party a written demand
that the declarant be produced in person to testify at the hearing. An
adverse party may call the declarant as a witness and examine the
witness as if under cross-examination.
(16) Deposition testimony. Testimony given as a witness in a
deposition taken in compliance with law in the course of the same
proceeding, so far as admissible under the rules of evidence applied as
though the witness was then present and testifying, if the party against
whom the testimony is now offered had an opportunity and similar motive
to develop the testimony by direct, cross, or redirect examination,
provided that a notice of intention to offer the deposition in evidence,
together with a copy thereof if not otherwise previously provided, has
been served upon the adverse party sufficiently in advance of the
hearing to provide the adverse party with a fair opportunity to prepare
to object or
meet it. An adverse party may call the deponent as a witness and examine
the witness as if under cross-examination.
(b) [Reserved]
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