Background

This transmittal amends section I-3-5-20 of the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual to remove the requirement for the Appeals Council to return additional evidence that is not new, material, or related to the period at issue. This change was necessary due to an interim final rule published [Insert date of interim final rule]. We made other minor editorial and formatting changes.

Explanation of Content and Changes

We revised section I-3-5-20 as follows:

HALLEX I-3-5-20 A – We modified A.5. to remove the requirement that the Appeals Council return evidence that was not new, material, or related to the period at issue, pursuant to 20 CFR 404.976(b) and 416.1476(b). We replaced the information with instruction that the Appeals Council will return evidence if the evidence is unusual or, in some circumstances, if the evidence is an original copy.

HALLEX I-3-5-20 B – We modified the title to “Evidence is New, Material, and Relates to the Period at Issue” to reflect the terminology used throughout the section and other HALLEX provisions.

Date: February 5, 2016