[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 49, Volume 5]
[Revised as of October 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 49CFR511.43]

[Page 50-51]
 
                        TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION
 
                            OF TRANSPORTATION
 
PART 511--ADJUDICATIVE PROCEDURES--Table of Contents
 
                           Subpart E--Hearings
 
Sec. 511.43  Evidence.

    (a) Applicability of Federal Rules of Evidence. The Federal Rules of 
Evidence shall apply to proceedings held under this part only as a 
general guide. The Presiding Officer may admit any relevent and 
probative evidence.
    (b) Burden of proof. (1) Complaint counsel shall have the burden of 
sustaining the allegations of any complaint.

[[Page 51]]

    (2) Any party who is the proponent of a legal and/or factual 
proposition shall have the burden of sustaining the proposition.
    (c) Presumptions. A presumption imposes on the party against whom it 
is directed the burden of going forward with evidence to rebut or meet 
the presumption, but does not shift to such party the burden of proof in 
the sense of the risk of nonpersuasion, which remains throughout the 
hearing upon the party on whom it was originally cast.
    (d) Admissibility. All relevant and reliable evidence is admissible, 
but may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed 
by unfair prejudice or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, 
immateriality, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.
    (e) Official notice--(1) Definition. Official notice means use by 
the Presiding Officer of extra-record facts and legal conclusions drawn 
from those facts. An officially noticed fact or legal conclusion must be 
one not subject to reasonable dispute in that it is either (i) generally 
known within the jurisdiction of the Presiding Officer or (ii) known by 
the Presiding Officer in areas of his or her expertise; or (iii) capable 
of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy 
cannot reasonably be questioned.
    (2) Method of taking official notice. The Presiding Officer may at 
any time take official notice upon motion of any party or upon its own 
initiative. The record shall reflect the facts and conclusions which 
have been officially noticed.
    (3) Opportunity to challenge. Any party may upon application in 
writing rebut officially noticed facts and conclusions by supplementing 
the record. The Presiding Officer shall determine the permissible extent 
of this challenge; that is, whether to limit the party to presentation 
of written materials, whether to allow presentation of testimony, 
whether to allow cross-examination, or whether to allow oral argument. 
The Presiding Officer shall grant or deny the application on the record.
    (f) Objections and exceptions. Objections to evidence shall be 
timely interposed, shall appear on the record, and shall contain the 
grounds upon which they are based. Rulings on all objections, and the 
bases therefore, shall appear on the record. Formal exception to an 
adverse ruling is not required to preserve the question for appeal.
    (g) Offer of proof. When an objection to proffered testimony or 
documentary evidence is sustained, the sponsoring party may make a 
specific offer, either in writing or orally, of what the party expects 
to prove by the testimony or the document. When an offer of proof is 
made, any other party may make a specific offer, either in writing or 
orally, of what the party expects to present to rebut or contradict the 
offer of proof. Written offers of proof or of rebuttal, adequately 
marked for identification, shall accompany the record and be available 
for consideration by any reviewing authority.