(a) Upon his own motion, or the motion of a party, the administrative law judge may direct the parties to meet with him for a conference or conferences to consider:

(1) Simplification of the issues;

(2) The necessity or desirability of amendments to documents for purposes of clarification, simplification, or limitation;

(3) Stipulations of fact, and of the authenticity, of the contents of documents;

(4) Limitations on the number of parties and of witnesses;

(5) Scope of participation of petitioners under § 1955.17 of this part;

(6) Establishment of dates for discovery; and

(7) Such other matters as may tend to expedite the disposition of the proceedings, and to assure a just conclusion thereof.

(b) The administrative law judge shall enter an order which recites the action taken at the conference, the amendments allowed to any documents which have been filed, and the agreements made between the parties as to any of the matters considered. Such order shall limit the issues for hearing to those not disposed of by admissions or agreements, and control the subsequent course of the hearing, unless modified at the hearing to prevent manifest injustice.