**§3.156 New and material evidence.**

\(a\) *General*. A claimant may reopen a finally adjudicated claim by
submitting new and material evidence. New evidence means existing
evidence not previously submitted to agency decisionmakers. Material
evidence means existing evidence that, by itself or when considered with
previous evidence of record, relates to an unestablished fact necessary
to substantiate the claim. New and material evidence can be neither
cumulative nor redundant of the evidence of record at the time of the
last prior final denial of the claim sought to be reopened, and must
raise a reasonable possibility of substantiating the claim. (Authority:
38 U.S.C. 501, 5103A(f), 5108)

\(b\) *Pending claim*. New and material evidence received prior to the
expiration of the appeal period, or prior to the appellate decision if a
timely appeal has been filed (including evidence received prior to an
appellate decision and referred to the agency of original jurisdiction
by the Board of Veterans Appeals without consideration in that decision
in accordance with the provisions of §20.1304(b)(1) of this chapter),
will be considered as having been filed in connection with the claim
which was pending at the beginning of the appeal period. (Authority: 38
U.S.C. 501(a))

\(c\) *Service department records*.

\(1\) Notwithstanding any other section in this part, at any time after
VA issues a decision on a claim, if VA receives or associates with the
claims file relevant official service department records that existed
and had not been associated with the claims file when VA first decided
the claim, VA will reconsider the claim, notwithstanding paragraph (a)
of this section. Such records include, but are not limited to:

\(i\) Service records that are related to a claimed in-service event,
injury, or disease, regardless of whether such records mention the
veteran by name, as long as the other requirements of paragraph (c) of
this section are met;

\(ii\) Additional service records forwarded by the Department of Defense
or the service department to VA any time after VA's original request for
service records; and

\(iii\) Declassified records that could not have been obtained because
the records were classified when VA decided the claim.

\(2\) Paragraph (c)(1) of this section does not apply to records that VA
could not have obtained when it decided the claim because the records
did not exist when VA decided the claim, or because the claimant failed
to provide sufficient information for VA to identify and obtain the
records from the respective service department, the Joint Services
Records Research Center, or from any other official source.

\(3\) An award made based all or in part on the records identified by
paragraph (c)(1) of this section is effective on the date entitlement
arose or the date VA received the previously decided claim, whichever is
later, or such other date as may be authorized by the provisions of this
part applicable to the previously decided claim.

\(4\) A retroactive evaluation of disability resulting from disease or
injury subsequently service connected on the basis of the new evidence
from the service department must be supported adequately by medical
evidence. Where such records clearly support the assignment of a
specific rating over a part or the entire period of time involved, a
retroactive evaluation will be assigned accordingly, except as it may be
affected by the filing date of the original claim. (Authority: 38 U.S.C.
501(a))

\[27 FR 11887, Dec. 1, 1962, as amended at 55 FR 20148, May 15, 1990; 55
FR 52275, Dec. 21, 1990; 58 FR 32443, June 10, 1993; 66 FR 45630, Aug.
29, 2001; 71 FR 52457, Sept. 6, 2006\]

**Cross references:** Effective dates---general. See §3.400. Correction
of military records. See §3.400(g).

**Supplement *Highlights* references**: 8(1), 47(1), 73(2).

Reserved