The expert’s complete report may be filed instead of this statement if it contains the required information.
An expert may not be permitted to testify if this statement or report is not served on allparties and filed with the clerk of the municipality when so directed by theTribunal.
7.5 Duty of the Expert Witness It is the duty of every expert engaged by or on behalf of a party who is to provide opinion evidence at a proceeding under these Rules to acknowledge, either prior to (by signing the acknowledgment form attached to the Rules) or at the proceeding, that they are to:
provide opinion evidence that is fair, objective and non-partisan;
provide opinion evidence that is related only to the matters that are within the expert’s area of expertise;
provide such additional assistance as the Tribunal may reasonably require to determine a matter in issue; and
acknowledge that these duties prevail over any obligation owed by the expert to the party by whom or on whose behalf he or she is engaged.
7.6 Other Witnesses The Tribunal may also require that a witness who is not presenting expert evidence provide a witness statement. A witness statement should contain (a) a short written outline of the person’s background experience, and interest in the matter, (b) a list of the issues that they will discuss, and (c) a list of reports that they will rely on at the hearing. The Tribunal may decline to allow the witness to testify if this statement is required by the Tribunal and has not been provided to the other parties.
7.7 Participant Statements A person who wishes to participate in a proceeding as a participant, shall file a written participant statement that sets out their position on the matter and issues of the proceeding, together with an explanation of their reasons in support of their position. A participant may only make submissions to the Tribunal in writing unless participant status was conferred by the Tribunal in a procedural order that was issued prior to September 3, 2019. In that case, the person conferred participant status may make an oral submission to the Tribunal and be cross-examined by parties on the content of their oral submission or the content of their written participant statement pursuant to the procedural order. In all circumstances, the Tribunal may direct a participant to pre-file their statement in advance of a hearing event with the Tribunal and all of the parties to the proceeding.
7.8 Amendment of Documents Documents filed with the Tribunal can only be amended with the consent of the parties or by a Tribunal Order. The Tribunal may require that the person requesting an amendment do so by way of a motion under Rule 10.
7.9 Copies of Tribunal Documents A person may examine any document filed with the Tribunal and copy it after paying the Tribunal’s fee, unless a statute, a Court Order, a Tribunal Order or these Rules provide otherwise. Persons, including participants in the proceeding wishing to review expert witness statements and reports, may also do so at the Clerk’s office when the Tribunal directs that witness statements or reports are to be filed at the municipality.
7.10 Return of Exhibits Exhibits of all types introduced at a hearing will be kept for