Rules of Evidence Table of Contents
Extrinsic evidence of authenticity as a condition precedent
to admissibility is not required with respect to the following:
(1)
Domestic public documents under seal. - A document bearing a seal
purporting to be that of the United States, or of any State, district,
Commonwealth, territory, or insular possession thereof, or the Panama Canal
Zone, or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, or of a political
subdivision, department, officer, or agency thereof, and a signature purporting
to be an attestation or execution.
(2)
Domestic public documents not under seal. - A document purporting to bear
the signature in an official capacity of an officer or employee of any entity
included in paragraph (1) hereof, having no seal, if a public officer having a
seal and having official duties in the district or political subdivision of the
officer or employee certifies under seal that the signer has the official
capacity and that the signature is genuine.
(3)
Foreign public documents. - A document purporting to be executed or
attested in an official capacity by a person authorized by the laws of a foreign
country to make the execution or attestation, and accompanied by a final
certification as to the genuineness of the signature and official position (A)
of the executing or attesting person, or (B) of any foreign official whose
certificate of genuineness of signature and official position relates to the
execution or attestation or is in a chain of certificates of genuineness of
signature and official position relating to the execution or attestation. A
final certification may be made by a secretary of embassy or legation, consul
general, consul, vice consul, or consular agent of the United States, or a
diplomatic or consular official of the foreign country assigned or accredited to
the United States. If reasonable opportunity has been given to all parties to
investigate the authenticity and accuracy of official documents, the court may,
for good cause shown, order that they be treated as presumptively authentic
without final certification or permit them to be evidenced by an attested
summary with or without final certification.
(4)
Certified copies of public records. - A copy of an official record or
report or entry therein, or of a document recorded or filed in a public office,
including data compilations in any form, certified as correct by the custodian
or other person authorized to make the certification, by certificate complying
with paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of this rule or complying with any statute or
rule prescribed by the Supreme Court.
(5)
Official publications. - Books, pamphlets, or other publications
purporting to be issued by public authority.
(6)
Newspapers and periodicals. - Printed materials purporting to be
newspapers or periodicals.
(7)
Trade inscriptions and the like. - Inscriptions, signs, tags, or labels
purporting to have been affixed in the course of business and indicating
ownership, control, or origin.
(8)
Acknowledged documents. - Documents accompanied by a certificate of
acknowledgment executed in the manner provided by law by a notary public or
other officer authorized by law to take acknowledgments.
(9)
Commercial paper and related documents. - Commercial paper, signatures
thereon, and documents relating thereto to the extent provided by general
commercial law.
(10)
Presumptions under state statute. - Any signature, document, or other
matter declared by state law to be presumptively or
prima facie genuine or authentic.
(11)
Certified domestic records of regularly conducted activity. – The
original or a duplicate of a domestic record of regularly conducted activity,
which would be admissible under Rule 803(6), and which the custodian thereof or
another qualified person certifies under oath –
(A) was made at or near the
time of the occurrence of the matters set forth by, or from information
transmitted by, a person with knowledge of those matters;
(B) was kept in the course of
the regularly conducted activity; and
(C) was made by the regularly
conducted activity as a regular practice.
A party intending to offer a record in evidence under this
paragraph must provide written notice of that intention to all adverse parties,
and must make the record available for inspection sufficiently in advance of its
offer in evidence to provide an adverse party with a fair opportunity to
challenge it.
(12)
Certified foreign records of regularly conducted activity. – In a civil
case, the original or a duplicate of a foreign record of regularly conducted
activity, which would be admissible under Rule 803(6), and which is accompanied
by a written declaration by the custodian thereof or another qualified person
that the record –
(A) was made at or near the
time of the occurrence of the matters set forth, by or from information
transmitted by, a person with knowledge of those matters;
(B) was kept in the course of
the regularly conducted activity; and
(C) was made by the regularly
conducted activity as a regular practice.
The declaration must be signed in a manner which, if falsely
made, would subject the maker to criminal penalty under the laws of the country
where the declaration is signed. A party intending to offer a record in
evidence under this paragraph must provide written notice of that intention to
all adverse parties, and must make the record available for inspection
sufficiently in advance of its offer in evidence to provide an adverse party
with a fair opportunity to challenge it.