[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 23]
[Revised as of July 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR179.95]

[Page 326]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 179_FORMAL EVIDENTIARY PUBLIC HEARING--Table of Contents
 
                      Subpart E_Hearing Procedures
 
Sec. 179.95  Admission or exclusion of evidence; objections; offers of proof.

    (a) Written material identified as direct testimony or as an 
evidentiary exhibit and offered by a party in a hearing, and oral 
testimony, whether on direct or on cross-examination, is admissible as 
evidence unless the presiding officer excludes it (on objection of a 
party or on the presiding officer's own initiative) because it is 
irrelevant, immaterial, or unduly repetitive, or because its exclusion 
is necessary to enforce a specific requirement of this part relating to 
the admissibility of evidence.
    (b) If a party objects to the admission or rejection of any evidence 
or to the limitation of the scope of any examination or cross-
examination, the party shall state briefly the grounds for such 
objection. The transcript shall include any argument or debate thereon, 
unless the presiding officer, with the consent of all the parties, 
orders that such argument not be transcribed. The ruling and the reasons 
given therefor by the presiding officer on any objection shall be a part 
of the transcript. An automatic exception to that ruling will follow.
    (c) Whenever evidence is deemed inadmissible, the party offering 
such evidence may make an offer of proof, which shall be included in the 
transcript. The offer of proof for excluded oral testimony shall consist 
of a brief statement describing the nature of the evidence excluded. If 
the evidence consists of a document or exhibit, it shall be inserted in 
the record in total. If the Administrator in reviewing the record under 
Sec. 179.112 decides that the presiding officer's ruling in excluding 
the evidence was erroneous and prejudicial, the hearing may be reopened 
to permit the taking of such evidence, or, where appropriate, the 
Administrator may evaluate the evidence and proceed to a final decision.
    (d) Official notice may be taken of Agency proceedings, any matter 
that might be judicially noticed by the courts of the United States, or 
any other fact within the knowledge and experience of the Agency as an 
expert agency. Any party shall be given adequate opportunity to show 
that such facts are erroneously noticed by presenting evidence to the 
contrary.