Department of Veterans Affairs October 18, 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, this notice announces that the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Department of Veterans Affairs, will submit the collection of information abstracted below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The PRA submission describes the nature of the information collection and its expected cost and burden and it includes the actual data collection instrument.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) amends its adjudication regulations concerning the nature of evidence that VA will accept as proof of military service and character of discharge. In the past, VA only accepted original service documents, copies of service documents issued by the service department or by a public custodian of records, or photocopies of service documents if they were certified to be true copies of documents acceptable to VA by an accredited agent, attorney or service organization representative who had successfully completed VA-prescribed training on military records. This change allows VA to accept uncertified copies of service documents as evidence of military service if VA is satisfied that the documents are free from alteration. The intended effect of this amendment is to streamline and improve the timeliness of adjudication and claims processing for VA benefitswithout compromising program integrity.