Board of Veterans' Appeals: Obtaining Evidence and Curing Procedural Defects

Résumé

The Department of Veterans Affairs proposes to amend the Appeals Regulations and Rules of Practice of the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) by removing the Board's authority to develop evidence for initial consideration. Under its current Appeals Regulations and Rules of Practice, the Board is permitted to obtain evidence, clarify the evidence, cure a procedural defect, or perform any other action essential for a proper appellate decision in any appeal properly before it without having to remand the appeal to the agency of original jurisdiction. Some of the regulatory provisions governing this practice were recently invalidated by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. By way of this rulemaking, we propose removing the invalidated portions of the Board's development regulations and changing those regulations to provide that, with certain exceptions, the Board will remand a case to the agency of original jurisdiction when there is a need to obtain evidence, clarify the evidence, correct a procedural defect, or take any other action deemed essential for a proper appellate decision. We also propose to amend the definition of "agency of original jurisdiction," add