# The General Pharmaceutical Council (Appeals Committee Rules) Order of Council 2010, Paragraph 12: Procedure at hearings

Extent: E+W+S

(1) No later than 7 days before the day of the hearing, the secretary must provide the Committee with an agenda and the documents relevant to the consideration of the appeal.
(2) The order of proceedings at the hearing is to be as follows—
(a) the chair must declare the hearing open;
(b) where the appellant is not present and is not represented either at the hearing, the chair—
(i) must require the secretary to adduce evidence that all reasonable efforts have been made to serve the Notice of Hearing on the appellant, and
(ii) having consulted the Committee, may—
(aa) if the chair is satisfied that the Notice of Hearing has been duly served, proceed with the hearing in the absence of the appellant, or
(bb) adjourn the hearing and issue appropriate directions;
(c) the Committee must hear and consider any preliminary legal arguments;
(d) the presenter must make an opening statement, outlining what the presenter considers to be the relevant circumstances of the case;
(e) subject to paragraph (4), the appellant may adduce evidence in support of the appellant’s appeal, and may call witnesses (provided that the chair is satisfied that the witness is in a position to provide relevant testimony);
(f) subject to paragraph (4), the presenter may adduce evidence in rebuttal of the position of the appellant and in support of the position of the Council, and may call witnesses (provided that the chair is satisfied that the witness is in a position to provide relevant testimony);
(g) the appellant may make a closing statement;
(h) the Committee must deliberate in private and must then announce its decision on the appeal in the presence of the parties (where present), together with the reasons for its decision.
(3) Otherwise the conduct of the hearing is to be at the discretion of the chair, who may (amongst other matters) invite the parties to make additional submissions to those outlined in paragraph (2).
(4) The Committee may refuse to allow a witness to give oral evidence, or to give oral evidence on a particular matter, if the Committee is satisfied that all or part of the evidence that the witness is to provide, or is to provide on that matter, should have been disclosed to the party not calling the witness at an earlier stage in the proceedings.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/1614/schedule/paragraph/12 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/general-pharmaceutical-council-appeals-committee-rules-order-of-council-2010/schedule/paragraph-12
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.