(a) Oral evidence shall be taken only on oath or affirmation.

(b) Each Party shall have these rights: to present evidence relevant to the issues; to cross-examine opposing witnesses on any matter relevant to the issues even though that matter was not covered in the direct examination; to impeach any witness regardless of which Party first called the witness to testify; and to rebut the evidence against the Party. Any Party, or person identified with such Party, may be called and examined as if under cross-examination by any adverse Party.

(c) The hearing need not be conducted according to technical rules relating to evidence and witnesses. Any relevant evidence, including hearsay, shall be admitted if it is the sort of evidence on which responsible persons are accustomed to rely in the conduct of serious affairs, regardless of the existence of any common law or statutory rule which might make improper the admission of such evidence over objection in civil actions, provided, however, hearsay evidence even though not objected to shall not be sufficient in itself to support a finding unless it would be admissible over objection in civil actions. However, such evidence shall be subject to the exclusions of Evidence Code Sections 1151, 1152, and 1154. The rules of privilege shall be effective to the same extent that they are now or hereafter may be recognized in civil actions and irrelevant and unduly repetitious evidence shall be excluded.

(d) The following additional exception to the “best evidence” rule (Evidence Code Section 1500) applies: A duplicate is admissible to the same extent as an original unless:

(e) Failure to comply with Section 1380(b) as to furnishing sufficient copies of exhibits, if it causes waste of time or delay, may be grounds for exclusion of the exhibits.