5 U.S.C. § 557 : US Code - Section 557: Initial decisions; conclusiveness; review by agency; submissions by parties; contents of decisions; record

Search 5 U.S.C. § 557 : US Code - Section 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 - 
(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.