Participants in evidentiary hearings will no longer have to provide paper copies of all exhibits introduced as evidence, under an order approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week (RM15-5).

The commission said its administrative law judges recently adopted a practice requiring participants to file exhibits electronically. “Thus, it is no longer necessary or efficient to require all participants to provide the presiding judge and court reporter with paper copies of each exhibit introduced at the hearing,” the commission said. The order amends Rule 508 of the commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, which previously required participants provide one paper copy of each exhibit to the presiding officer and two paper copies to the court reporter.