skip navigational linksDOL Seal - Link to DOL Home Page
Photos representing the workforce - Digital Imagery© copyright 2001 PhotoDisc, Inc.
www.dol.gov

Previous Section

Content Last Revised: 4/9/90
---DISCLAIMER---

Next Section

CFR  

Code of Federal Regulations Pertaining to U.S. Department of Labor

Title 29  

Labor

 

Chapter I  

Office of the Secretary of Labor

 

 

Part 18  

Rules of Practice and Procedure for Administrative Hearings Before the Office of Administrative Law Judges

 

 

 

Subpart B  

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]
Previous Section

Next Section



Phone Numbers