Standard
Arrangements For Committee Hearings
1. Rule A8.6 provides for each party to
advise the Committee Secretary of the name, address and position of the officer
or employee who is to represent it at the hearing. If any party so wishes, it may request, giving reasons, that the
Chairman direct that it be represented by another person who is not an officer
or employee. If its representative is
not legally qualified, any party may request that the Chairman direct that its
representative be accompanied by a named person who is legally qualified. Rule
A5.9 also requires that each party advise the details of any representative of
its insurers or any persons with technical or professional expertise (other
than legal advisers) whom it wishes to attend the hearing.
2. Procedural Rule 3.6 requires any party
wishing to call a witness to apply to the Chairman, through the Committee
Secretary, giving details of the witness, what the party is seeking to
establish through his evidence, and how long examination-in-chief is likely to
last.
3. Any party wishing to rely on expert
evidence must agree the arrangements with the Committee Secretary in
advance. There is no requirement for
the expert to attend the hearing for the sole purpose of proving his report
but, if any other party applies to the Chairman to cross-examine the expert,
the party who commissioned his report must arrange for his attendance as a
witness.
4. The Committee will wish to rely
primarily on the written material supplied in advance by the parties.
Procedural Rule 5.4 stipulates that
each party may address the Committee for up to 20 minutes when making a
submission based on its written submission.
A party may request in advance, with reasons, that the Chairman agree to
a longer period, or may seek the Chairman’s permission at the time.
5. Parties will be allowed a right of
reply to the extent that points have been made orally by other parties which
were not adequately exposed in their submission. The Chairman will not normally
expect a party to speak for more than 20 minutes in reply.
6. Any party may, with prior notification,
call one or more witnesses to give evidence on a matter raised in that party’s
submission. Unless agreed otherwise,
that party should undertake examination-in-chief of its witness(es) immediately
after its opening submission; other parties will then have the opportunity of
cross-examining the witness(es), with potential re-examination in respect of
any new points arising in the cross-examination. It is not anticipated that a witness need remain on hand once he
has given his evidence.
7. Members of the Committee may put
questions to representatives of the parties or to witnesses at any time. Questions put during a submission or
response, or during the evidence of a witness, will normally concern a matter
of clarification or omission only, and allowance for them will be made in
relation to any time limit.
8. Representatives of parties are not allowed to put questions
during the submission or response of another party. Representatives may only address questions to a witness when
invited to do so by the Chairman.
9. There are no firm rules on the
admissibility of evidence; the Chairman
may admit some evidence that would not be admissible in court, but the Committee
may attach less importance to it.
10. Committee hearings generally take place in the Committee’s
meeting room at 8th Floor,
11. The standard hours for a Committee
hearing are:
|
Hearing starts |
10.00 (coffee available on arrival) |
|
Buffet lunch |
13.00 - 13.45 |
|
Tea |
15.30 - 15.45 |
|
Hearing finishes |
17.00 |
12. The proceedings will not normally be
recorded verbatim unless one or more parties request otherwise and undertake to
bear the cost.
April 2006