[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 23, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-3943]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: February 23, 1994]


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POSTAL RATE COMMISSION

39 CFR Part 3001

[Docket No. RM91-1]
RIN 3209-AA04, 3209-AA15 and 3211-AA00

 

Rules of Practice and Procedure

AGENCY: Postal Rate Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking; public comment period.

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SUMMARY: This serves as notice of, and a request for, comments on 
proposed changes to the Commission's rules of practice and procedure 
that the Commission is considering for adoption. The proposed rules 
evolved out of the Commission's Docket RM91-1 proceeding. Participants 
to that proceeding developed specific proposals for improvements to the 
Commission's rules of practice. Adoption of these proposed rules is 
expected to enhance the efficiency of Commission proceedings and ease 
the burdens on participants in Commission proceedings.

DATES: Written comments responding to this document must be submitted 
on or before April 4, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Charles L. Clapp, Secretary of 
the Commission, Suite 300, 1333 H Street NW., Washington, DC 20268-0001 
(telephone: 202/789-6840).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen Sharfman, Legal Advisor, 
Postal Rate Commission, Suite 300, 1333 H Street NW., Washington, DC 
20268-0001 (telephone: 202/789-6820).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Commission's Office of the Consumer 
Advocate (OCA) has filed a motion requesting that the Commission 
consider a Stipulation and Agreement on proposed changes to the 
Commission's rules of practice and procedure. All documents relating to 
the RM91-1 proceeding are available for public inspection at the 
Commission's H Street offices.
    The proposed rule changes resolve some, but not all, of the 
outstanding issues in this proceeding. Fifteen participants support 
proposed changes to the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, 
39 CFR 3001, which would alter the service requirements applicable to 
requests for written discovery and the answers thereto; restrict 
transcript corrections to material, substantive errors; require limited 
participators to respond to discovery requests specifically directed to 
testimony they sponsor; alter production specifications relating to 
margins, line spacing and choice of typeface; and allow a ten-day grace 
period for filing signature pages to interrogatory responses under 
specified conditions. Additionally, nine participants support adding a 
new rule 10(d), 39 CFR 3001.10(d), which would require that certain 
documents be filed in electronic form (on diskettes) within five 
working days of their being formally filed in hard copy. Adoption of 
these proposed rules is expected to enhance the efficiency of 
Commission proceedings and ease the burdens on participants in 
Commission proceedings.
    Punctuation within the attachment to the Stipulation and Agreement 
might be interpreted to propose elimination of certain provisions not 
discussed in the motion. It is the understanding of the Commission that 
there was no intent to propose changes other than those explained in 
the proposed Stipulation and Agreement. To avoid any possible 
misunderstandings, the full text of affected subsections, as they would 
appear if the changes proposed herein were adopted, are set forth 
below. Additionally, to improve clarity, an article has been added to 
the next to last sentence in Rule 26(c), 39 CFR 3001.26(c).
    One of the signatories to the Stipulation and Agreement, McGraw-
Hill, Inc., also filed a comment noting that the language describing 
the service requirements of discovery questions and objections differed 
from the language in the rules applicable to service requirements for 
discovery answers and compelled answers. Compare for example proposed 
rule 25 (a)(c), with rule 25(b)(d). The comment indicates that parties 
to the Stipulation intended that the rules for service of discovery 
requests, answers, objections, and compelled answers be identical. 
Conforming adjustments have not been proposed at this time to allow 
interested persons to comment on the specific language submitted in the 
Stipulation. Absent comments in opposition submitted in response to 
this notice, conforming changes would be made in the final rule to 
reflect that, for documents described in rules 25, 26, and 27, special 
requests for service will be honored; and the final sentence in 
proposed rule 12(b), 39 CFR 3001.12(b) would be changed to read as 
follows:

    Special requests for service are used for obtaining service of 
discovery requests and answers, and any objections and compelled 
answers related thereto. Participants may serve special requests for 
service on any other participant requesting service of discovery 
requests directed to specified witnesses or participants; or answers 
provided by specified witnesses or that participant.

Regulatory Evaluation

    It has been determined pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b) that these rules 
will not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small 
entities under the terms of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 
501 et seq. It has also been determined that these rules do not have 
sufficient federalism implications to warrant the preparation of a 
Federalism Assessment pursuant to Executive Order 12612. These rules do 
not contain any information collection requirements as defined in the 
Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3502(4), and consequently the review 
provisions of 44 U.S.C. 3507 and the implementing regulations in 5 CFR 
part 1320 do not apply.

List of Subjects in 39 CFR Part 3001

    Administrative practice and procedure, Postal Service.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, 39 CFR part 3001 is 
proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 3001--RULES OF PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE

    1. The authority citation for 39 CFR part 3001 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 39 U.S.C. 404(b), 3603, 3622-3624, 3661, 84 Stat. 
759-762, 764, 90 Stat. 1303; (5 U.S.C. 553), 80 Stat. 383.

Subpart A--Rules of General Applicability

    2. Section 3001.10 would be amended by revising paragraph (a) and 
by adding paragraph (d) to read as follows:


Sec. 3001.10  Form and number of copies of documents.

    (a) Production. If not printed, documents filed with the Commission 
shall be produced on paper of letter size, 8 to 8\1/2\ inches wide by 
10\1/2\ to 11 inches long, with left- and right-hand margins not less 
than 1 inch and other margins not less than 0.75 inches, except tables, 
charts or special documents attached thereto may be larger if required, 
provided that they are folded to the size of the document to which they 
are attached. The impression shall be on only one side of the paper 
unless there are more than ten pages. The text shall be not less than 
one and one-half spaced except that footnotes and quotations may be 
single spaced. Any typeface not smaller than 12 pt may be used. If the 
document is bound, it shall be bound on the left side. Copies of 
documents for filing and service may be reproduced by any duplicating 
process that produces clear and legible copies.
* * * * *
    (d) Electronic filings. (1) All testimony, exhibits, workpapers, 
library references, briefs and reply briefs which have been prepared on 
a computer or word processor shall be filed as diskettes (or otherwise 
electronically transmitted to the Commission) within five business days 
of the initial filing of the hard copy.
    (2) Diskettes filed pursuant to paragraph (d)(1) of this section 
may be provided in any widely-used format. The preferred formats are 
IBM-PC compatible diskettes in Word Perfect, Microsoft Word, ASCII 
text, Lotus (DOS 3.0 or later version), or DIF format. If these formats 
are not used to produce the initial hard copy, diskettes will be 
accepted in any format actually used. Documents which have been 
generated on a mainframe or minicomputer, for example, shall be 
converted to diskettes, if possible. In such cases as these, where a 
file translation program must be used to produce a PC-compatible 
diskette, reasonable conversion programs will satisfy the requirements 
of this section. If a party has generated hard copy of documents 
subject to this section on a computer other than a personal computer 
and lacks the capability of producing a PC-compatible diskette, the 
party must arrange for other means of conveying the information 
electronically. Recommended alternatives to the filing of diskettes are 
transmission by modem or providing the information on magnetic tape.
    (3) If documents are not prepared using electronic media, diskettes 
need not be created and filed. A party that generates documents subject 
to this section using non-electronic means is to file an affidavit or 
declaration so stating within five business days of the initial filing 
of the hard copy. The declaration or affidavit may be the statement of 
a witness, counsel or an official representative of the participant. 
Such an affidavit or declaration need be filed only once during the 
course of a proceeding, within five business days of the filing of the 
first document subject to this section.
    (4) The Commission intends to file within five business days of 
their initial issuance in hard copy form diskettes of all documents 
issued by the Commission or the Presiding Officer. This includes 
Presiding Officer's rulings, Commission orders, notices of inquiry and 
other notices and Commission opinions and recommended decisions.
    (5) Any changes or revisions to electronically-filed documents 
shall be filed on updated diskettes. The updated diskettes are to be 
filed within five business days of the initial filing of the hard copy 
of the revisions.
    3. Section 3001.12 would be amended by revising paragraph (b) to 
read as follows:


Sec. 3001.12  Service of documents.

* * * * *
    (b) Service by the parties. Every document filed by any person with 
the Commission in a proceeding shall be served by the person filing 
such document upon the participants in the proceeding individually or 
by such groups as may be directed by the Commission or presiding 
officer except for discovery requests as governed by Secs. 3001.25 to 
3001.27. Special requests relating to discovery must be served 
individually upon the party conducting discovery and state the witness 
who is the subject of the special request.
* * * * *
    4. Section 3001.20a would be amended by revising paragraph (c) to 
read as follows:


Sec. 3001.20a  Limited participation by persons not parties.

* * * * *
    (c) Scope of participation. Subject to the provisions of 
Sec. 3001.30(f), limited participators may present evidence which is 
relevant to the issues involved in the proceeding and their testimony 
shall be subject to cross-examination on the same terms applicable to 
that of formal participants. Limited participants may file briefs or 
proposed findings pursuant to Secs. 3001.34 and 3001.35, and within 15 
days after the release of an intermediate decision, or such other time 
as may be fixed by the Commission, they may file a written statement of 
their position on the issues. The Commission or the presiding officer 
may require limited participators having substantially like interests 
and positions to join together for any or all of the above purposes. 
Limited participators are not required to respond to discovery requests 
under Sec. 3001.25 through Sec. 3001.28 except to the extent that those 
requests are directed specifically to testimony which the limited 
participators provided in the proceeding; however, limited 
participators, particularly those making contentions under 39 U.S.C. 
3622(b)(4), are advised that failure to provide relevant and material 
information in support of their claims will be taken into account in 
determining the weight to be placed on their evidence and arguments.
    4. Section 3001.25 would be amended by revising paragraphs (a), 
(b), and (c) to read as follows:


Sec. 3001.25  Interrogatories for purpose of discovery.

    (a) Service and contents. In the interest of expedition and limited 
to information which appears reasonably calculated to lead to the 
discovery of admissible evidence, any participant may serve upon any 
other participant in a proceeding written interrogatories requesting 
nonprivileged information relevant to the subject matter in such 
proceeding, to be answered by the participant served, who shall furnish 
such information as is available to the participant. A participant 
through interrogatories may require any other participant to identify 
each person whom the other participant expects to call as a witness at 
the hearing and to state the subject matter on which the witness is 
expected to testify. The participant serving the interrogatories shall 
file a copy thereof with the Secretary pursuant to Sec. 3001.9 and 
shall serve a copy upon the Postal Service. Special requests for 
service by other participants shall be honored.
    (b) Answers. Each interrogatory shall be answered separately and 
fully in writing, unless it is objected to, in which event the reasons 
for objection shall be stated in the manner prescribed by paragraph (c) 
of this section. The party responding to the interrogatories shall 
serve the answers on the party who served the interrogatories within 20 
days of the service of the interrogatories or within such other period 
as may be fixed by the presiding officer, but before the conclusion of 
the hearing. The answers are to be signed by the person making them. If 
the person responding to the interrogatory is unavailable to sign the 
answer when filed, a signature page must be filed within ten days 
thereafter with the Commission, but need not be served on participants. 
Copies of the answers to interrogatories shall be filed with the 
Secretary pursuant to Sec. 3001.9 and shall be served upon other 
participants who request them.
    (c) Objections. In the interest of expedition, the bases for 
objection shall be clearly and fully stated. If objection is made to 
part of an interrogatory, the part shall be specified. A participant 
claiming privilege shall identify the specific evidentiary privilege 
asserted and state the reasons for its applicability. A participant 
claiming undue burden shall state with particularity the effort which 
would be required to answer the interrogatory, providing estimates of 
cost and work hours required, to the extent possible. An interrogatory 
otherwise proper is not necessarily objectionable because an answer 
would involve an opinion or contention that relates to fact or the 
application of law to fact, but the Commission or presiding officer may 
order that such an interrogatory need not be answered until a 
prehearing conference or other later time. Objections are to be signed 
by the attorney making them. The party objecting to interrogatories 
shall serve the objections on the party who served the interrogatories 
within 10 days of the service of the interrogatories. Copies of 
objections to interrogatories shall be filed with the Secretary 
pursuant to Sec. 3001.9 and shall be served upon the proponent of the 
interrogatory and the Postal Service. Special requests for service by 
other participants shall be honored.
* * * * *
    6. Section 3001.26 would be amended by revising paragraphs (a) and 
(c) to read as follows:


Sec. 3001.26  Requests for production of documents or things for 
purpose of discovery.

    (a) Service and contents. In the interest of expedition and limited 
to information which appears reasonably calculated to lead to the 
discovery of admissible evidence, any participant may serve on any 
other participant to the proceeding a request to produce and permit the 
participant making the request, or someone acting in his/her behalf, to 
inspect and copy any designated documents or things which constitute or 
contain matters, not privileged, which are relevant to the subject 
matter involved in the proceeding and which are in the custody or 
control of the participant upon whom the request is served. The request 
shall set forth the items to be inspected either by individual item or 
category, and describe each item and category with reasonable 
particularity, and shall specify a reasonable time, place and manner of 
making inspection. The participant requesting the production of 
documents or things shall file a copy of the request with the Secretary 
pursuant to Sec. 3001.9 and shall serve copies thereof upon the Postal 
Service. Special requests for service by other participants shall be 
honored.
* * * * *
    (c) Objections. In the interest of expedition, the bases for 
objection shall be clearly and fully stated. If objection is made to 
part of an item or category, the part shall be specified. A participant 
claiming privilege shall identify the specific evidentiary privilege 
asserted and state the reasons for its applicability. A participant 
claiming undue burden shall state with particularity the effort which 
would be required to answer the request, providing estimates of cost 
and work hours required, to the extent possible. Objections are to be 
signed by the attorney making them. The party objecting to a request 
shall serve the objection on the party requesting production of 
documents or things, upon the Secretary pursuant to Sec. 3001.9 and 
upon the Postal Service, within 10 days of the request for production. 
Special requests for service by other participants shall be honored.
* * * * *
    7. Section 3001.27 would be amended by revising paragraphs (a) and 
(c) to read as follows:


Sec. 3001.27  Requests for admissions for purpose of discovery.

    (a) Service and content. In the interest of expedition any 
participant may serve upon any other participant a written request for 
the admission, for purposes of the pending proceeding only, of any 
relevant, unprivileged facts, including the genuineness of any 
documents or exhibits to be presented in the hearing. The participant 
requesting the admission shall file a copy of the request with the 
Secretary pursuant to Sec. 3001.9 and shall serve copies thereof upon 
the Postal Service. Special requests for service by other participants 
shall be honored.
* * * * *
    (c) Objections. In the interest of expedition, the bases for 
objection shall be clearly and fully stated. If objection is made to 
part of an item, the part shall be specified. A participant claiming 
privilege shall identify the specific evidentiary privilege asserted 
and state the reasons for its applicability. A participant claiming 
undue burden shall state with particularity the effort which would be 
required to answer the request, providing estimates of cost and work 
hours required to the extent possible. Objections are to be signed by 
the attorney making them. The party objecting to requests for 
admissions shall serve the objections on the party requesting 
admissions, upon the Secretary pursuant to Sec. 3001.9 and upon the 
Postal Service, within 10 days of the request. Special requests for 
service by other participants shall be honored.
* * * * *
    8. Section 3001.30 would be amended by adding paragraph (i) to read 
as follows:


Sec. 3001.30  Hearings.

* * * * *
    (i) Transcript corrections. Corrections to the transcript of a 
hearing should not be requested except to correct a material 
substantive error in the transcription of oral statements made at the 
hearing.

    Issued by the Commission on February 15, 1994.
Charles L. Clapp,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 94-3943 Filed 2-22-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-FW-P