Sec. 1.318  The taking of depositions.

    (a) Persons before whom depositions may be taken. Depositions shall 
be taken before any judge of any court of the United States; any U.S. 
Commissioner; any clerk of a district court; any chancellor, justice or 
judge of a supreme or superior court; the mayor or chief magistrate of a 
city; any judge of a county court, or court of common pleas of any of 
the United States; any notary public, not being of counsel or attorney 
to any party, nor interested in the event of the proceeding; or 
presiding officers, as provided in Sec. 1.243.
    (b) Attendance of witnesses. The attendance of witnesses at the 
taking of depositions may be compelled by the use of subpena as provided 
in Secs. 1.331 through 1.340.
    (c) Oath; transcript. The officer before whom the deposition is to 
be taken shall administer an oath or affirmation to the witness and 
shall personally, or by someone acting under his direction and in his 
presence record the testimony of the witness. The testimony may be taken 
stenographically or, upon approval by the presiding officer, testimony 
may be taken through the use of telephonically or electronically 
recorded methods, including videotape. In the event these latter methods 
are used for the deposition, the parties may agree to the waiver of the 
provisions of paragraphs (e) and (f) as appropriate and as approved by 
the presiding officer.
    (d) Examination. (1) In the taking of depositions upon oral 
examination, the parties may proceed with examination and cross-
examination of deponents as permitted at the hearing. In lieu of 
participating in the oral examination, parties served with the notice to 
take depositions may transmit written interrogatories to the officer 
designated in the notice, who shall propound them to the witness and 
record the answers verbatim.
    (2) In the taking of depositions upon written interrogatories, the 
party who served the original interrogatories shall transmit copies of 
all interrogatories to the officer designated in the notice, who shall 
propound them to the witness and record the answers verbatim.
    (e) Submission of deposition to witness; changes; signing. When the 
testimony is fully transcribed, the deposition of each witness shall be 
submitted to him for examination and shall be read to or by him, unless 
such examination and reading are waiver by the witness and by the 
parties. Any changes in form or substance which the witness desires to 
make shall be entered upon the deposition by the officer with a 
statement of the reasons given by the witness for making them. The 
deposition shall then be signed by the witness, unless the parties by 
stipulation waive the signing, or the witness is ill, cannot be found, 
or refuses to sign. If the deposition is not signed by the witness, the 
officer shall sign it and state on the record the fact of the waiver, 
the illness or absence of the witness, or of his refusal to sign, 
together with the reason (if any) given therefor; and the deposition may 
then be used as fully as though signed, unless upon a motion to

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suppress, the presiding officer holds that the reason given for the 
refusal to sign requires rejection of the deposition in whole or in 
part.
    (f) Certification of deposition and filing by officer; copies. The 
officer shall certify on the deposition that the witness was duly sworn 
by him, that the deposition is a true record of the testimony given by 
the witness, and that said officer is not of counsel or attorney to 
either of the parties, nor interested in the event of the proceeding or 
investigation. He shall then securely seal the deposition in an envelope 
endorsed with the title of the action and marked ``Deposition of (here 
insert name of witness)'' and shall promptly send the original and two 
copies of the deposition and of all exhibits, together with the notice 
and any interrogatories received by him, by certified mail to the 
Secretary of the Commission.
[ 33 FR 463 , Jan. 12, 1968, as amended at  47 FR 51873 , Nov. 18, 1982]