Appellant Douglas M. Wilson (“Wilson”) appeals from a decision of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (“Veterans Court”). The Veterans Court affirmed a decision of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (“Board”) denying Wilson’s claim for service connection for a psychiatric disability. Wilson claims that the Department of Veterans Affairs (‘VA”) failed to provide the notice required by 38 U.S.C. § 5103(a) (2000). We affirm.
BACKGROUND
Wilson served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps from June 1964 to March 1974. He served two tours of combat duty in Vietnam, where he “experienced stressful events in service,” J.A. at 56, including seeing his colleagues killed and sustaining a shrapnel injury to his head. Wilson explained to a VA physician who examined him that these experiеnces left him with “constant ruminations about Vietnam,” dreams of being shot at, poor memory, and headaches exacerbated by anxiety. J.A. at 60. The physician found that, despite these symptoms, Wilson did not meet the full criteria for a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”).
In a January 1998 rating decision, the VA regional office (“RO”) denied Wilson’s claim for service cоnnection for “a psychiatric disability to include PTSD and for memory loss.” J.A. at 40. Wilson filed a notice of disagreement (“NOD”) in January 1998. The RO issued a statement of the case (“SOC”) in June 1998, and Wilson perfected his appeal in July 1998. In a February 2004 decision the Board denied service connection. Pursuant to a joint motion for remand, which reflected the parties’ agreemеnt that the Board’s decision failed to set forth sufficient reasons and bases for its denial of service connection of a psychiatric disorder other than PTSD, the Veterans Court in December 2004 vacated and remanded that denial to the Board for readjudication. Aso pursuant to the parties’ stipulation, the Veterans Court dismissed Wilson’s appeal with rеgard to the service-connection claims for PTSD and memory loss.
By a letter dated January 18, 2005, Wilson’s counsel requested that the Board remand the case to the RO “for review and preparation of a Supplemental Statement of the Case.” J.A. at 45. She further requested: “If you determine there is significant negative evidence on a material issue in this clаimant’s record, please let my client know what this evidence is and what types of evidence would aid in rebutting this negative evidence and thus substantiate these claims.” Id.
On February 11, 2005, the Board denied Wilson’s claim for service connection for a psychiatric disability other than PTSD. On appeal, the Veterans Court affirmed. In response to Wilson’s argument that the VA violated its duty to provide adequate notice pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 5103(a), the Veterans Court stated that ‘VA was not required to analyze the evidence gathered and inform the appellant of the inadequacy of his submissions.”
Wilson v. Nicholson,
Vet.App. No. 05-0566, slip op. at 2,
Wilson timely appealed to this court. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 7292(a).
DISCUSSION
I
This case involves issues as to the scope of section 5103(a), which obligates the VA to notify claimants of what information and evidence they must submit to substantiate their claims. It provides:
Upon receipt of a complete or substantially complete application, the Secretary shall notify the claimant and the clаimant’s representative, if any, of any information, and any medical or lay evidence, not previously provided to the Secretary that is necessary to substantiate the claim. As part of that notice, the Secretary shall indicate which portion of that information and evidence, if any, is to be provided by the claimant and which portion, if any, the Sеcretary ... will attempt to obtain on behalf of the claimant.
38 U.S.C. § 5103(a). The regulation implementing this statute tracks the statutory text and imposes no additional notice obligation on the VA. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(b) (2007). 1
Wilson does not argue that he received inadequate notice when he initially filed his claim with the RO. 2 However, Wilson contends that the VA violated its duty of notice under section 5103(a) following remand of his case from the Veterans Court to the Board. He contends that, upon remand from the Veterans Court, the Board was required under section 5103(a) to provide him with additional, specific notice that would provide him with the Board’s “pre-decisional assessment of the evidence.” Appellant’s Br. at 14. Wilson’s claim is essentially twofold. First, he argues that the duty imposed by section 5103(a) is not limited to providing notice after the initial filing of a “complete or substantially complete application” but continues throughout the claim process. Second, Wilson contends that the notice required by section 5103(a) is specific notice of what evidence is missing — that the VA must, at least upon request, “share its pre-decisional assessment of the evidence.” Appellant’s Br. at 14. We reject both arguments.
Wilson is incorrect that section 5103(a) applies throughout the claim process. Under the plain language of the statute, the notice obligation is triggered by the filing of a “complete or substantially complete application.” The statutory language does not suggest that the notice
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required extends beyond this filing. Contrary to Wilson’s argument, the “previously provided” language does not indicate that the duty extends throughout the claim process. The legislative history of section 5103(a) confirms that it does not. Section 5103(a) was enacted as part of the Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000, Pub.L. No. 106-475, 114 Stat. 2096 (“VCAA”). The purpose of thаt statute, according to its legislative history, is “to reinstate VA’s traditional practice of assisting veterans at the beginning of the claims process.” S.Rep. No. 106-397, at 22 (2000). Our decisions also have confirmed that section 5103(a) is intended “to require that the VA provide affirmative notification to the claimant prior to the initial decision in the case as to the evidеnce that is needed and who shall be responsible for providing it.”
Mayfield v. Nicholson,
In
Mayfield II,
the Board had determined that the notice requirement of section 5103(a) was satisfied by “three post-decisional communications with [the claimant],” including a notice of decision and two statements of the case.
Following
Mayfield II,
we specifically held in
Hartman
that section 5103(a) does not apply to proceedings that take place after the RO’s initial decision.
Wilson is also incorrect in arguing that section 5103(a) is not satisfied by generic notice and requires specific notice оf the missing evidence with respect to a particular claim. The statute on its face does not address the level of required detail, stating only that the notice must identify “any information, and any medical or lay evidence, not previously provided to the Secretary that is necessary to substantiate the claim.” 38 U.S.C. § 5103(a). The legislative history of section 5103(a) rеveals that Congress intended this language to provide an “objective test for
the types of evidence
that could be useful to the Secretary in deciding the claim.” 146 Cong. Rec. H9912, 9914 (daily ed. Oct. 17, 2000) (Explanatory Statement on H.R. 4864, As Amended) (emphasis added). Plainly the notice must identify the information and evidence necessary to substantiate the particular type of claim being asserted by the vеteran (which we refer to here as “generic notice”), but there is no indication that Congress intended to require an analysis of the individual claim in each case. Indeed, this court already has rejected the argument that section 5103(a)
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requires the VA “to identify with specificity the evidence necessary to substantiate the claim.”
Paralyzed Veterans of Am. v. Sec’y of Veterans Affairs,
Finally, while we think that section 5103(a) must be interpreted as requiring only generic notice at the outset, even if the statute were ambiguous, we would be required to defer to the VA’s interpretation under
Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc.,
The February 2005 letter from Wilson’s counsel, requesting that the Board “let [Wilson] know what ... types of evidence would aid in rebutting ... negative evidence аnd thus substantiate these claims,” J.A. at 45, does nothing to alter the situation. Whether or not the claimant requests a detailed notice pursuant to section 5103(a) at later stages of the claim process, there is no obligation under that provision to provide one.
II
Wilson asserts that this interpretation of the statute “permits the VA to evade its obligation ‘to anаlyze the evidence gathered and inform the appellant of the inadequacy of his submissions.’ ” Appellant’s Br. at 16. He argues that such an interpretation is inconsistent with the “uniquely pro-claimant nature of the veterans compensa
*1061
tion system.”
Hensley v. West,
After an initial rejection by the RO of a claim for benefits, the VA must notify the claimant and provide a statement of the reasons for the decision and a summary of the evidence considered. 38 U.S.C. § 5104; see also 38 C.F.R. § 3.103(b)(1). At that point the claimant has one year in which to file an NOD under 38 U.S.C. §§ 7105(a) and 7105(b)(1). If the claimant does file an NOD, the VA is required to “reexaminе the claim and determine whether additional review or development is warranted.” 38 C.F.R. § 19.26(a). If the VA does not grant the claim based on this additional development, it is then required to supply the claimant with an SOC that summarizes the existing evidence relevant to the disputed issues, explains how applicable laws and regulations affected the decision, and discussеs the reasons for the decision. 38 U.S.C. § 7105(d)(1). Additionally, either before or after receiving the SOC, the claimant may submit additional evidence to the RO; the VA will consider this evidence as if it had been filed in connection with the original claim. 38 C.F.R. § 3.156(b). If necessary, VA also will provide the claimant with a supplemental statement of the case (“SSOC”) to correct problems in the initiаl SOC or account for evidence submitted after the SOC was issued. See id. § 19.31(b).
When the claimant has no further evidence to submit and no further supplemental statements of the case are required, the claimant has sixty days in which to file a substantive appeal. 38 U.S.C. § 7105(d)(3). The RO then will certify the appeal to the Board. 38 C.F.R. § 19.35. Once the appeal is certified, the claimant has ninety days in which to submit additional evidence to the Board; he may also submit it after that period upon a showing of good cause. Id. § 20.1304(a), (b). The claimant also is entitled to notice of any new medical or legal opinions received by the Board, or any new law the Board intends to apply; in either situation, the claimant may submit additional argument or evidencе within sixty days of receiving the notice. Id. § 20.903. 3 The claimant also receives a hearing before the Board, at which he can submit additional evidence even if the ninety-day period has expired. 38 U.S.C. § 7107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1304(a). Once the Board has decided the appeal it must, like the RO, provide the claimant with a statement of the reasons or bases for its decision. 38 U.S.C. § 7104(d)(1). If the Board remands the claim to the RO, the agency conducts additional development and provides the claim *1062 ant a new SSOC. 38 C.F.R. §§ 19.31(c), 19.38.
Within this detailed procedural scheme, section 5103(a) serves to facilitate the claim process by ensuring “that the claimant be given the required information prior to the VA’s decision on the claim and in a form that enables the claimant to understand thе process, the information that is needed, and who will be responsible for obtaining that information.”
Mayfield II,
In summary, section 5103(a) requires only that the VA give a claimant notice at the outset of the claims process of the information and evidence necessary to substantiate the claim, before the initial RO decision and in sufficient time to enable the claimant to submit relevant evidence. This notice may be generic in the sense that it need not identify evidence specific to the individual claimant’s case (though it necessarily must be tailored tо the specific nature of the veteran’s claim). It need not describe the VA’s evaluation of the veteran’s particular claim.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the decision below is AFFIRMED.
COSTS
No costs.
Notes
. Wilson contends that another regulation, 38 C.F.R. § 3.103(a), compels his interpretation of the statute. We see nothing in that regulation, which contains a general statement of procedural policy for the VA claims process, that is relevant to the interpretation of the plain language of section 5103(a).
. In its 2005 decision, the Board determined that a February 2001 letter from the RO to the claimant provided the requisite notice in connection with Wilson’s initial filing. That letter explained what information and evidence was needed to substantiate Wilson’s service-connection claim, what information Wilson needed to submit, and what information the VA would obtain on his behalf. The Veterans Court agreed with the Board's conclusion that this notice was sufficient. Wilson does not challenge this aspect of the court’s decision on appeal.
. However, as with section 5103(a) notice, this notice by the Board is not intended to apprise the claimant оf the Board's analysis of the claim or weighing of the evidence. As with 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(b), the Secretary rejected a proposal that this regulation provide the claimant with a form of predecisional adjudication, stating that ''[t]hese matters are generally not determined until the Board weighs the evidence and decides the appeal.” Board of Veterans’ Appeals: Obtaining Evidence and Curing Procedural Defects Without Remanding, 67 Fed.Reg. 3099, 3100 (Jan. 23, 2002).