(a) The Federal Rules of Evidence do not apply to NAO proceedings.

(b) An appellate officer will decide whether to admit evidence into the NAO case record.

(1) An appellate officer may exclude unduly repetitious, irrelevant, and immaterial evidence. An appellate officer may also exclude evidence to avoid undue prejudice, confusion of the issues, undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.

(2) An appellate officer may consider hearsay evidence.

(c) Copies of documents may be offered as evidence, provided they are of equal legibility and quality as the originals, and such copies shall have the same force and effect as if they were originals. If an appellate officer so directs, a party shall submit original documents to the appellate officer.

(d) An appellate officer may take official notice of Federal or State public records and of any matter of which courts may take judicial notice.

(e) An appellate officer may request, and the program office that issued the initial administrative determination in the case before the appellate officer will provide, the interpretation(s) of the law made by the program office and applied to the facts in the case.