Directive on Submitting Documentary Evidence for the Record

Issued by the Commission Registry

Effective Date: September 15, 2025

This directive clarifies how participants in Commission hearings should submit evidence for the record. ^{Footnote 1} It specifies how all submissions, including footnotes and references, are treated and clarifies what is considered part of the record.

As a court of record, the Commission operates transparently, adhering to the open-court principle. Its proceedings and the record for any proceeding are public by default.

All documents, submissions, and decisions linked to a specific proceeding must be kept as a permanent record. The record contains all the evidence that was before the Commission when a decision was made and is presumed to be correct and complete. The Commission Registry is responsible for maintaining the record of each proceeding.

When participants submit applications or submissions, those documents become part of the public record and constitute evidence before the Commission. This directive applies to all submissions, including any references or hyperlinks within them and any material for which confidentiality is requested under Rule 12 of the CNSC Rules of Procedure (refer to the Directive on Requesting Confidentiality, if applicable.)

Direction

1. Responsibility: Participants are responsible for identifying the evidence they wish to be included on the record.
2. Footnotes and references: Footnotes or references to documents in an application or submission do not automatically make those referenced items part of the record.
3. Hyperlinks: Hyperlinks in submissions do not make the linked items part of the record.
4. Appending documents: To be included on the record, referenced documents must be appended to the submission or filed separately. Content from hyperlinks must be filed as a copy (for example, as a PDF, screenshot or printout).
5. Reproduced content: If the relevant content of a referenced or hyperlinked item is included in the body of the submission and the footnote or link is used solely as a citation, it is at the discretion of the participant whether to append the full item for the record.
6. Resubmitting documents: If information is already on the record (in other words, it was included as part of a previous submission in the same proceeding), there is no need to resubmit it.
7. Identifying addenda: The submission should clearly identify any appended documents or hyperlinks.
8. Request for additional documents: The Commission may request documents that are referenced but not added to the record by one of the participants. Participants should retain copies of all referenced material and hyperlinks in their original form for submission upon request.
9. Official notice: The Commission may take official notice of legislation, regulations, treaties, and other regulatory instruments (e.g., REGDOCs, standards). References to these need not be separately appended to submissions.

References

• Nuclear Safety and Control Act
• CNSC Rules of Procedure
• Directive on Requesting Confidentiality

Approved by Candace Salmon
Commission Registrar
September 15, 2025