General Pharmaceutical Council Appeals Committee

Appeals to the Appeals Committee

Article 40 of the Pharmacy Order 2010 provides that a person in respect of whom an ‘appealable decision’ has been made may appeal against it to the Appeals Committee by giving notice of appeal to the Registrar within 28 days of the date on which the written statement of the reasons for the decision was sent.

The procedures of the Committee are set out in Part 4 of The Pharmacy Order 2010 and in The General Pharmaceutical Council (Appeals Committee Rules) Order of Council 2010.

Appealable decisions which the Committee can hear are set out in Article 39 of The Pharmacy Order 2010 and include:

• a decision to require an exempt person to complete an adaptation period, or pass an aptitude test, before deciding whether that person is “appropriately qualified”;
• a decision to refuse to enter a person in Part 1 or 2 of the Register as a pharmacist or a pharmacy technician or in Part 4 or 5 of the Register (excluding restoration cases) or to remove such an entry;
• a decision to refuse to renew an entry of a registrant in Part 1 or 2, or of a visiting practitioner, in Part 4 or 5 of the Register;
• a decision to refuse to enter, renew or restore an annotation, or to remove an annotation, in any part of the Register in respect of a specialisation;
• a decision to refuse an application for restoration of a person’s entry in Part 1, 2, 4 or 5 of the Register but only if the decision is for a reason that does not relate to a person’s fitness to practise;
• a decision by the Council to refuse to approve, or to withdraw approval from, any education, training, qualification, test or institution or other provider or to impose probationary or remedial measures on an institution or other provider;
• a decision to refuse to enter a person in Part 2 of the Register on the ground that the person does not have the requisite knowledge, skill and experience for practising as a pharmacy technician in Great Britain;
• decisions in relation to the entry of premises in Part 3 of the Register.

For an appeal to be valid it must fulfil the requirements set out in Rule 4 of The General Pharmaceutical Council Appeals Committee Rules Order of Council 2010 and once received by the secretary, must be acknowledge.

Rule 12 of the Appeals Committee Rules 2010 sets out the procedure of the Appeals Committee at hearings. 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.

The order of proceedings at the hearing is to be as follows:

1. the chair must declare the hearing open;
2. where the appellant is not present and is not represented either at the hearing, the chair —
   1. must require the secretary to adduce evidence that all reasonable efforts have been made to serve the Notice of Hearing on the appellant, and
   2. having consulted the Committee, may, 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 adjourn the hearing and issue appropriate directions;
3. the Committee must hear and consider any preliminary legal arguments;
4. the presenter must make an opening statement, outlining what the presenter considers to be the relevant circumstances of the case;
5. 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);
6. 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);
7. the appellant may make a closing statement;
8. 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.

Otherwise the conduct of the hearing is to be at the discretion of the chair.

It is worth noting that the Committee may refuse to allow a witness to give oral evidence, or to give oral evidence on a particular matter, if it is satisfied that all or part of the evidence should have been disclosed to the party not calling the witness at an earlier stage in the proceedings.

Except as provided by rule 16 of the Appeals Committee Rules 2010, hearings before the Committee must be conducted in public.

Decision of the Committee

As soon as is reasonable practical, the Appeals Committee must send to the person bringing the appeal a statement in writing giving the person notice of the Committee’s decision and the reasons for it and of any right of appeal under article 41(1) and must be accompanied by a record of any rulings on questions of law or admissibility of evidence made by the chair or the Committee.

Costs of the hearing

Where a hearing is to be held and a party is seeking or intends to seek an order for payment of its costs, the party must serve on the other party, and on the secretary, a schedule of costs or expenses relating to the hearing no less than 24 hours before the date of the hearing.

After announcing the Committee’s decision on the appeal, the chair may invite representations as to whether costs or expenses should be assessed against either party.
After hearing any representations from the parties, the Committee may, if it thinks fit and having regard to the ability of any party to pay, order that a party pay by a specified date all or part of the costs or expenses relating to the hearing incurred by the other party.

Where the Committee orders a party to pay costs or expenses, the chair may:

1. summarily assess the costs or expenses to be paid; or
2. require the parties either to agree the figure for the costs or expenses to be awarded or to submit to taxation before a person appointed by the secretary.