Notice and Assistance Requirements and Technical Correction

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its regulation governing VA's duty to provide a claimant with notice of the information and evidence necessary to substantiate a claim and VA's duty to assist a claimant in obtaining the evidence necessary to substantiate the claim. The purpose of these changes is to clarify when VA has no duty to notify a claimant of how to substantiate a claim for benefits, to make the regulation comply with statutory changes, and to streamline the development of claims. Additionally, we are making a non-substantive, technical correction to the statutory references in a separate part 3 regulation.