
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document affected by Public Law 107-103 Section 507]
[CITE: 38USC7266]

 
                      TITLE 38--VETERANS' BENEFITS
 
              PART V--BOARDS, ADMINISTRATIONS, AND SERVICES
 
     CHAPTER 72--UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR VETERANS CLAIMS
 
                        SUBCHAPTER II--PROCEDURE
 
Sec. 7266. Notice of appeal

    (a)(1) In order to obtain review by the Court of Appeals for 
Veterans Claims of a final decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals, a 
person adversely affected by such decision shall file a notice of appeal 
with the Court within 120 days after the date on which notice of the 
decision is mailed pursuant to section 7104(e) of this title.
    (2) An appellant shall file a notice of appeal under this section by 
delivering or mailing the notice to the Court.
    (3) A notice of appeal shall be deemed to be received by the Court 
as follows:
        (A) On the date of receipt by the Court, if the notice is 
    delivered.
        (B) On the date of the United States Postal Service postmark 
    stamped on the cover in which the notice is posted, if the notice is 
    properly addressed to the Court and is mailed.

    (4) For a notice of appeal mailed to the Court to be deemed to be 
received under paragraph (3)(B) on a particular date, the United States 
Postal Service postmark on the cover in which the notice is posted must 
be legible. The Court shall determine the legibility of any such 
postmark and the Court's determination as to legibility shall be final 
and not subject to review by any other Court.
    (b) The appellant shall also furnish the Secretary with a copy of 
such notice, but a failure to do so shall not constitute a failure of 
timely compliance with subsection (a) of this section.

(Added Pub. L. 100-687, div. A, title III, Sec. 301(a), Nov. 18, 1988, 
102 Stat. 4116, Sec. 4066; renumbered Sec. 7266 and amended Pub. L. 102-
40, title IV, Sec. 402(b)(1), (d)(1), May 7, 1991, 105 Stat. 238, 239; 
Pub. L. 102-83, Sec. 4(b)(1), (2)(E), Aug. 6, 1991, 105 Stat. 404, 405; 
Pub. L. 103-446, title V, Sec. 511(a), Nov. 2, 1994, 108 Stat. 4670; 
Pub. L. 105-368, title V, Sec. 512(a)(1), Nov. 11, 1998, 112 Stat. 
3341.)


                               Amendments

    1998--Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 105-368 substituted ``Court of Appeals 
for Veterans Claims'' for ``Court of Veterans Appeals''.
    1994--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103-446 amended subsec. (a) generally. 
Prior to amendment, subsec. (a) read as follows: ``In order to obtain 
review by the Court of Veterans Appeals of a final decision of the Board 
of Veterans' Appeals, a person adversely affected by that action must 
file a notice of appeal with the Court. Any such notice must be filed 
within 120 days after the date on which notice of the decision is mailed 
pursuant to section 7104(e) of this title.''
    1991--Pub. L. 102-40, Sec. 402(b)(1), renumbered section 4066 of 
this title as this section.
    Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102-40, Sec. 402(d)(1), substituted ``7104(e)'' 
for ``4004(e)''.
    Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 102-83, Sec. 4(b)(1), (2)(E), substituted 
``Secretary'' for ``Administrator''.


                    Effective Date of 1998 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 105-368 effective on first day of first month 
beginning more than 90 days after Nov. 11, 1998, see section 513 of Pub. 
L. 105-368, set out as a note under section 7251 of this title.


                    Effective Date of 1994 Amendment

    Section 511(b) of Pub. L. 103-446 provided that: ``The amendment 
made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall take effect on the 
date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 2, 1994] and shall apply to 
notices of appeal that are delivered or mailed to the United States 
Court of Veterans Appeals [now United States Court of Appeals for 
Veterans Claims] on or after that date.''


             Interim Provision for Filing Notices of Appeal

    Pub. L. 101-94, title II, Sec. 202, Aug. 16, 1989, 103 Stat. 626, 
provided that in the case of a person adversely affected by a final 
decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals that was made before the date 
on which the United States Court of Veterans Appeals published in the 
Federal Register a notice by the Court that it had commenced operations, 
the period prescribed under this section within which a notice of appeal 
had to be filed with the Court was to be extended to the end of the 30-
day period beginning on the date such notice was published, if the end 
of that period was later than the date that would otherwise be 
applicable under this section.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 7264 of this title.
