Civil & Administrative

Off-the-Record Communications Public Notice

🇺🇸United States··Notice·Medium Impact·View source ↗

AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.

🇬🇧 English

This notice outlines the process for handling off-the-record communications in proceedings overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. It specifies how these communications are documented and the circumstances under which they may influence the decisional records. Compliance is required by those involved in contested proceedings.

AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Refer to official sources for legal decisions.

Key Changes

  • Establishes how off-the-record communications are documented
  • Details conditions under which communications may influence records
  • Requires compliance from parties in contested proceedings

Obligations

What this law requires

high

Commission decisional employees who make or receive a prohibited or exempt off-the-record communication relevant to the merits of a contested proceeding must deliver to the Secretary of the Commission a copy of the communication if written, or a summary of the substance if oral

FERC decisional employees
reporting
high

Any person identified as having made a prohibited off-the-record communication must serve the document on all parties listed on the official service list for the applicable proceeding in accordance with 18 CFR 385.2010

Persons making prohibited off-the-record communications
disclosure
high

Prohibited off-the-record communications must be included in a public, non-decisional file associated with, but not part of, the decisional record unless the Commission determines they should become part of the decisional record

FERC and Commission decisional employees
operational
high

Prohibited off-the-record communications will not be considered by the Commission in reaching its decision unless the Commission determines that fairness requires inclusion in the decisional record

FERC decisional employees
prohibition
medium

Parties to a proceeding may seek the opportunity to respond to facts or contentions made in a prohibited off-the-record communication and request the Commission place the communication and responses in the decisional record

Parties to contested FERC proceedings
operational

Affected Parties

Federal Energy Regulatory CommissionParticipants in contested proceedings

Tags

compliance,regulation,communication