Article 25 Failure to respond to enquiries made by the Secretary of the Tribunal

(1)

The Tribunal may order—

(a)

that the notice of application be struck out on the grounds that the applicant’s failure to comply with enquiries made by the Secretary of the Tribunal under rule 24, prejudices, or delays, a fair hearing of the application,

(b)

that the Commissioner may not take any further step in relation to the application nor attend the hearing, nor be represented at the hearing, on the grounds that the Commissioner’s failure to comply with enquiries made by the Secretary of the Tribunal under rule 24, prejudices or delays a fair hearing of the application.

(2)

Before an order can be made under paragraph (1), the Secretary of the Tribunal must give the party against whom the Tribunal proposes to make an order a notice inviting representations by that party, and the Tribunal must consider any representations made.

(3)

For the purposes of this rule—

(a)

a notice inviting representations must inform the party that within a period (of no less than 5 working days) specified in the notice, that party may either make written representations or request an opportunity to make oral representations,

(b)

representations are made if—

(i)

in the case of written representations, they are made within the specified period, and

(ii)

in the case of oral representations, the party proposing to make them has requested an opportunity to do so within the specified period.

(4)

If a notice of application is struck out under paragraph (1)(a) the application is to be considered concluded.