Rule 10: Record Before the Agency

(a) Record Before the Agency. Not later than 60 days following the notice of docketing, the Secretary shall:


(1) copy all materials that were contained in the claims file on the date the Board issued the decision from which the appeal was taken;


(2) copy any other material from the record before the Secretary and the Board relevant to the Board decision on appeal (Note: material postdating the Board decision on appeal generally will not be included in the record before the agency);


(3) assemble and paginate all documents, keeping attachments with their respective document. The decision of the Board from which the appeal was taken shall be the first document, followed by a list of any record matter that cannot be duplicated. The assembled document is the record before the agency;


(4) serve a copy of the record before the agency on the appellant; and


(5) submit under a separate docket entry a notice with the Clerk certifying that the record before the agency has been served.


(b) Disputes. If any dispute arises as to the preparation or content of the record before the agency, the Court, on motion of any party, will resolve the matter. Any motion shall describe the good faith efforts that the parties have made to resolve the dispute and shall be submitted to the Clerk to be filed within 14 days after the record before the agency has been served. An opposing party may submit to the Clerk for filing a response to such a motion within 7 days after the motion is served.


(c) Filing the Record Before the Agency. The record before the agency may include many documents not relevant to the issues on appeal. It will not be filed with the Court unless the Court so orders.


(d) Access of Parties or Representatives to Original Record. After a Notice of Appeal has been filed, the Secretary shall permit a party or a representative of a party to inspect and to copy, subject to reasonable regulation by the Secretary, any original material in the record before the agency that is not subject to a protective order.


(e) Retention Requirements for Documents. See Rule 37 (Retention Requirements for Documents).