As used in this subpart:

Board decisional employee means a Board Member, law judge or other employee who is, or who may reasonably be expected to be, involved in the decisional process of the proceeding;

Ex parte communication means an oral or written communication not on the public record with respect to which reasonable prior notice to all parties is not given, but does not include requests for status reports on any matter or proceeding covered by this part.

(a) The prohibitions of this section shall apply from the time a petition for review or an appeal is filed unless the person responsible for the communication has knowledge that a petition for review or an appeal will be filed, in which case the prohibitions shall apply at the time of the acquisition of such knowledge. Such prohibitions shall continue until the time of the Board's final disposition of the petition, appeal and any ancillary matters, such as the adjudication of a claim for fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act.

(b) Except to the extent required for the disposition of ex parte matters as authorized by law:

(1) No interested person outside the Board shall make or knowingly cause to be made to any Board decisional employee an ex parte communication relevant to the merits of the proceeding;

(2) No Board decisional employee shall make or knowingly cause to be made to any interested person outside the Board an ex parte communication relevant to the merits of the proceeding. Ex parte communications solely relating to matters of Board procedure or practice are not prohibited by this section.

A Board decisional employee who receives, makes or knowingly causes to be made a communication prohibited by § 821.61 shall place in the public record of the proceeding:

(a) All such written communications;

(b) Memoranda stating the substance of all such oral communications; and

(c) All written responses, and memoranda stating the substance of all oral responses, to the communications described in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section.

(a) Upon receipt of a communication made or knowingly caused to be made by a party in violation of § 821.61, the presiding law judge (or the chief law judge, if the proceeding has not been assigned to a law judge) or the Board may, to the extent consistent with the interests of justice and the policy of the underlying statutes it administers, require the party to show cause why its claim or interest in the proceeding should not be dismissed, denied, disregarded or otherwise adversely affected on account of such violation.

(b) The Board may, to the extent consistent with the interest of justice and the policy of the underlying statutes it administers, consider a violation of § 821.61 sufficient grounds for a decision adverse to a party who has knowingly committed or knowingly caused such a violation to occur. Alternatively, the Board may impose a sanction on the party's attorney or representative, including suspending or barring the attorney or representative from practicing before it, where such action would be appropriate and penalizing the party represented would not be in the interest of justice.