Country-conditions evidence should be current enough to address the conditions relevant to the decision, but older material can remain important when it documents what happened during the period of past persecution or shows a long-term pattern.
Use both current and historical evidence when needed
For future fear, recent sources can help show present conditions. For an event that occurred years ago, reports from that period may explain the context and corroborate what was happening at the time.
Do not replace older relevant evidence merely because a newer report exists. Instead, label the date range clearly.
Check for changed conditions
Before an interview or hearing, review whether significant political, legal, security, or social changes have occurred since your research was collected. Add newer reliable sources when they materially affect the issues in the case.
Keep a source log
Record the title, publisher, publication date, URL, pages used, issue supported, and date you last checked the source. This makes updating the research much easier.
Official sources
There is no single age cutoff that makes every country-conditions source useful or useless; relevance depends on the issue it supports.