(a) Presenting evidence. Presenting evidence at the hearing shall be limited to material evidence relevant to the issues as drawn by the pleadings or as defined in the report of prehearing conference, subject to such later modifications of the issues as may be necessary to protect the public interest or to prevent injustice, and shall not be unduly repetitious. Evidence shall be presented in such form by all parties as the administrative law judge may direct.

(b) Objections to evidence. Objections to the admission or exclusion of evidence shall be in short form, stating the grounds of objections relied upon, and the transcript shall not include argument or debate except as ordered by the administrative law judge. Rulings on such objections shall be a part of the transcript.

(c) Exhibits. When exhibits are offered in evidence, one copy must be furnished to each of the parties at the hearing, and two copies to the administrative law judge, unless the parties previously have been furnished with copies or the administrative law judge directs otherwise. If the administrative law judge has not fixed a time for the exchange of exhibits, the parties shall exchange copies of exhibits at the earliest practicable time, preferably before the hearing or, at the latest, at the commencement of the hearing. Copies of exhibits may, at the discretion of the administrative law judge or the DOT decisionmaker, be furnished by use of electronic media in lieu of or in addition to a paper record copy.

(d) Substitution of copies for original exhibits. In his or her discretion, the administrative law judge may permit a party to withdraw original documents offered in evidence and substitute true copies in lieu thereof.

(e) Designation of parts of documents. When relevant and material matter offered in evidence by any party is embraced in a book, paper, or document containing other matter not material or relevant, the party offering the same shall plainly designate the matter so offered. The immaterial and irrelevant parts shall be excluded and shall be segregated insofar as practicable. If the volume of immaterial or irrelevant matter would unduly encumber the record, such submission will not be received in evidence, but may be marked for identification, and, if properly authenticated, the relevant or material matter may be read into the record, or, if the administrative law judge so directs, a true copy of such matter, in proper form, shall be received as an exhibit, and like copies delivered by the party offering the same to opposing parties or their attorneys appearing at the hearing, who shall be afforded an opportunity to examine the submission, and to offer in evidence in like manner other portions of the exhibit.

(f) Records in other proceedings. In case any portion of the record in any other proceeding or civil or criminal action is offered in evidence, a true copy of such portion shall be presented for the record in the form of an exhibit unless:

(1) The portion is specified with particularity in such manner as to be readily identified;

(2) The party offering the same agrees unconditionally to supply such copies later, or when required by the DOT decisionmaker;

(3) The parties represented at the hearing stipulate upon the record that such portion may be incorporated by reference, and that any portion offered by any other party may be incorporated by like reference upon compliance with paragraphs (f)(1) and (2) of this section; and

(4) The administrative law judge directs such incorporation or waives the requirement in paragraph (f)(3) of this section with the consent of the parties.

(g) Official notice of facts contained in certain documents.

(1) Without limiting, in any manner or to any extent, the discretionary powers of the DOT decisionmaker and the administrative law judge to notice other matters or documents properly the subject of official notice, facts contained in any document within the categories enumerated in this subdivision are officially noticed in all formal economic proceedings except those subject to subpart D of this part. Each such category shall include any document antedating the final Department decision in the proceeding where such notice is taken. The matters officially noticed under the provisions of this paragraph are:

(i) Air carrier certificates or applications therefor, together with any requests for amendment, and pleadings responding to applications when properly filed.

(ii) All Form 41 reports required to be filed by air carriers with the Department.

(iii) Reports of Traffic and Financial Data of all U.S. Air Carriers issued by the Department or by its predecessor.

(iv) Airline Traffic Surveys and Passenger Origin-Destination Surveys, Domestic or International, compiled by the Department or its predecessor and published and/or made available either to the public or to parties in proceedings.

(v) Compilations of data relating to competition in the airline industry and made available to the public by the Department or its predecessor.

(vi) Passenger, mail, express, and freight data submitted to the Department and its predecessor as part of ER-586 Service Segment Data by U.S. carriers, or similar data submitted to the Department by U.S. air carriers (T-100) or (T-100F) that are not confidential.

(vii) All tariffs, including the electronic versions, and amendments thereof, of all air carriers, on file with the Department.

(viii) Service Mail Pay and Subsidy for U.S. Certificated Air Carriers published by the Department or its predecessor, including any supplemental data and subsequent issues published by the Department or its predecessor.

(ix) Airport Activity Statistics of Certificated Air Carriers compiled and published by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or the Department.

(x) Air Traffic Activity Data issued by the FAA.

(xi) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) issued by the FAA.

(xii) Chart Supplements, issued by the FAA.

(xiii) The Airman's Information Manual issued by the FAA.

(xiv) Monthly, quarterly and annual reports of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Department of Justice.

(xv) All forms and reports required by the U.S. Postal Service to be filed by air carriers authorized to transport mail.

(xvi) All orders of the Postmaster General designating schedules for the transportation of mail.

(xvii) Publications of the Bureau of the Census of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) relating, but not necessarily limited, to population, manufacturing, business, statistics, and any yearbooks, abstracts, or similar publications published by DOC.

(xviii) All Official Airline Guides, including the North American, Worldwide, All-Cargo and quick reference editions, including electronic versions.

(xix) Official Railways Guide and Russell's Official National Motor Coach Guide.

(xx) The Rand McNally Commercial Atlas and Marketing Guide, and the Rand McNally Road Atlas, United States, Canada, and Mexico.

(xxi) The Rand McNally Commercial Atlas and Marketing Guide, and the Rand McNally Road Atlas, United States, Canada, and Mexico.

(xxii) Survey of Buying Power published by Sales Management Magazine.

(2) Any fact contained in a document belonging to a category enumerated in paragraph (g)(1) of this section shall be deemed to have been physically incorporated into and made part of the record in such proceedings. However, such taking of official notice shall be subject to the rights granted to any party or intervener to the proceeding under section 7(d) of the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 557(d)).

(3) The decisions of the Department and its administrative law judges may officially notice any appropriate matter without regard to whether or not such items are contained in a document belonging to the categories enumerated in paragraph (g)(1) of this section. However, where the decision rests on official notice of a material fact or facts, it will set forth such items with sufficient particularity to advise interested persons of the matters that have been noticed.

(h) Receipt of documents after hearing. No document or other writings shall be accepted for the record after the close of the hearing except in accordance with an agreement of the parties and the consent of the administrative law judge or the DOT decisionmaker.

(i) Exceptions. Formal exceptions to the rulings of the administrative law judge made during the course of the hearing are unnecessary. For all purposes for which an exception otherwise would be taken, it is sufficient that a party, at the time the ruling of the administrative law judge is made or sought, makes known the action he or she desires the administrative law judge to take or his or her objection to an action taken, and his or her grounds therefor.

(j) Offers of proof. Any offer of proof made in connection with an objection taken to any ruling of the administrative law judge rejecting or excluding proffered oral testimony shall consist of a statement of the substance of the evidence that counsel contends would be adduced by such testimony, and if the excluded evidence consists of evidence in documentary or written form or of reference to documents or records, a copy of such evidence shall be marked for identification and shall constitute the offer of proof.

[Docket No. OST-97-2090, 65 FR 6457, Feb. 9, 2000, as amended by Doc. No. DOT-OST-2014-0140, 84 FR 15936, Apr. 16, 2019]