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* U.S.C. TITLE 5 - GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES
* PART I - THE AGENCIES GENERALLY
* CHAPTER 5 - ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE
* SUBCHAPTER II - ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE
* 557. Initial decisions; conclusiveness; review by agency; submissions by parties;
contents of decisions; record
* (a) This section applies, according to the provisions thereof, when a hearing is
required to be conducted in accordance with section 556 of this title.
* (b) When the agency did not preside at the reception of the evidence, the presiding
employee or, in cases not subject to section 554(d) of this title, an employee qualified
to preside at hearings pursuant to section 556 of this title, shall initially decide the
case unless the agency requires, either in specific cases or by general rule, the entire
record to be certified to it for decision. When the presiding employee makes an initial
decision, that decision then becomes the decision of the agency without further
proceedings unless there is an appeal to, or review on motion of, the agency within time
provided by rule. On appeal from or review of the initial decision, the agency has all the
powers which it would have in making the initial decision except as it may limit the
issues on notice or by rule. When the agency makes the decision without having presided at
the reception of the evidence, the presiding employee or an employee qualified to preside
at hearings pursuant to section 556 of this title shall first recommend a decision, except
that in rule making or determining applications for initial licenses -
* (1) instead thereof the agency may issue a tentative decision or one of its responsible
employees may recommend a decision; or
* (2) this procedure may be omitted in a case in which the agency finds on the record that
due and timely execution of its functions imperatively and unavoidably so requires.
* (c) Before a recommended, initial, or tentative decision, or a decision on agency review
of the decision of subordinate employees, the parties are entitled to a reasonable
opportunity to submit for the consideration of the employees participating in the
decisions -
* (1) proposed findings and conclusions; or
* (2) exceptions to the decisions or recommended decisions of subordinate employees or to
tentative agency decisions; and
* (3) supporting reasons for the exceptions or proposed findings or conclusions. The
record shall show the ruling on each finding, conclusion, or exception presented. All
decisions, including initial, recommended, and tentative decisions, are a part of the
record and shall include a statement of -
* (A) findings and conclusions, and the reasons or basis therefor, on all the material
issues of fact, law, or discretion presented on the record; and
* (B) the appropriate rule, order, sanction, relief, or denial thereof.
* (d)(1) In any agency proceeding which is subject to subsection (a) of this section,
except to the extent required for the disposition of ex parte matters as authorized by law
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* (A) no interested person outside the agency shall make or knowingly cause to be made to
any member of the body comprising the agency, administrative law judge, or other employee
who is or may reasonably be expected to be involved in the decisional process of the
proceeding, an ex parte communication relevant to the merits of the proceeding;
* (B) no member of the body comprising the agency, administrative law judge, or other
employee who is or may reasonably be expected to be involved in the decisional process of
the proceeding, shall make or knowingly cause to be made to any interested person outside
the agency an ex parte communication relevant to the merits of the proceeding;
* (C) a member of the body comprising the agency, administrative law judge, or other
employee who is or may reasonably be expected to be involved in the decisional process of
such proceeding who receives, or who makes or knowingly causes to be made, a communication
prohibited by this subsection shall place on the public record of the proceeding:
* (i) all such written communications;
* (ii) memoranda stating the substance of all such oral communications; and
* (iii) all written responses, and memoranda stating the substance of all oral responses,
to the materials described in clauses (i) and (ii) of this subparagraph;
* (D) upon receipt of a communication knowingly made or knowingly caused to be made by a
party in violation of this subsection, the agency, administrative law judge, or other
employee presiding at the hearing may, to the extent consistent with the interests of
justice and the policy of the underlying statutes, require the party to show cause why his
claim or interest in the proceeding should not be dismissed, denied, disregarded, or
otherwise adversely affected on account of such violation; and
* (E) the prohibitions of this subsection shall apply beginning at such time as the agency
may designate, but in no case shall they begin to apply later than the time at which a
proceeding is noticed for hearing unless the person responsible for the communication has
knowledge that it will be noticed, in which case the prohibitions shall apply beginning at
the time of his acquisition of such knowledge.
* (2) This subsection does not constitute authority to withhold information from Congress.
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