Section B - Hearings and Decisions

63 Hearings
  63.1 REQUIREMENT FOR A HEARING
A board or competitor shall not be penalised without a hearing, except as provided in rule 29.1, and A1.1. A decision on redress shall not be made without a hearing. The protest committee shall hear all protests that have been delivered to the race office unless it approves a protestor's request to withdraw the protest.

  63.2 TIME AND PLACE OF THE HEARING
All parties to the hearing shall be notified of the time and place of the hearing, the protest or redress information shall be made available to them, and they shall be allowed reasonable time to prepare for the hearing. A Slalom or Wave Performance hearing to decide a protest willl be convened immediately.

  63.3 RIGHT TO BE PRESENT

    (a) The parties to the hearing have the right to be present throughout the hearing of all the evidence. Any witness, other than a member of the protest committee, shall be excluded except when giving evidence.
    (b) If a party to the hearing does not come to the hearing, the protest committee may nevertheless decide the protest in its absence. If it was unavoidably absent, the committee may reopen the hearing.

  63.4 İlgili Taraflar
A member of a protest committee who is an interested party shall not take any further part in the hearing but may appear as a witness. A party to the hearing who believes a member of the protest committee is an interested party shall object as soon as possible.

  63.5 Protestonun Geçerliliği
At the beginning of the hearing the protest committee shall decide whether all requirements for the protest have been met, after first taking any evidence it considers necessary. If all requirements have been met, the protest is valid and the hearing shall be continued. If not, it shall be closed.

  63.6 Kanıt Toplanması ve Gerçeklerin Değerlendirilmesi
The protest committee shall take the evidence of the parties to the hearing and of their witnesses and other evidence it considers necessary. A member of the protest committee who saw the incident may give evidence. A party to the hearing may question any person who gives evidence. The committee shall then determine the facts and base its decision on them.

64 Protest Decisions
  64.1 PENALTIES AND EXONERATION
When the protest committee decides that a board that is a party to the hearing has broken a rule, it shall be disqualified unless some other penalty applies. A penalty shall be imposed whether or not the applicable rule was mentioned in the protest.

When as a consequence of breaking a rule a board has compelled another board to break a rule, rule 64.1(a) does not apply to the other board and it shall be exonerated.

    (c) If a board has broken a rule when not racing, its penalty shall apply to the
race sailed nearest in time to that of the incident.

  64.2 DECISIONS ON REDRESS
When the protest committee decides that a board is entitled to redress under rule 62, it shall make as fair an arrangement as possible for all boards affected, whether or not they have asked for redress. This may be to adjust the scores of boards, to abandon the race, to let the results stand or to make some other arrangement (see rule A4 for examples). When in doubt about the facts or probable results of any arrangement for the race or series, especially before abandoning the race, the protest committee shall take evidence from appropriate sources.

  64.3 DECISIONS ON MEASUREMENT PROTESTS

    When the protest committee is in doubt about the meaning of a measurement rule, it shall refer its questions, together with the relevant facts, to an authority responsible for interpreting the rule. In making its decision, the committee shall be governed by the reply of the authority.

65 Informing the Parties and Others
  65.1 After making its decision, the protest committee shall promptly inform the parties to the hearing of the facts found, the applicable rules, the decision, the reasons for it, and any penalties imposed or redress given.

  65.2 For each hearing the protest committee shall, before the following day's competitors meeting, or, if on the last day, as soon as possible, post on the notice board a statement which includes.

    (a) the sail numbers of those involved in the protest or redress
    (b) the facts found
    (c) the rule(s) judged applicable
    (d) the decision

  65.3 When the protest committee penalizes a board under a measurement rule, it shall send the above information to the relevant measurement authorities.

66 Reopening a Hearing
The protest committee may reopen a hearing when it decides that it may have made a significant error, or when significant new evidence becomes available within a reasonable time. A party to the hearing may ask for a reopening no later than 24 hours after being informed of the decision or in the time stated in the Sailing Instructions.

67 Spare

68 Damages
The question of damages caused by the infringement of any rule shall be governed by the prescriptions, if any, of the national authority.

Section C - Gross Misconduct

69 Allegations of Gross Misconduct
  69.1 ACTION BY A PROTEST COMMITTEE

    (a) When a protest committee, from its own observation or a report received, believes that a competitor may have committed a gross breach of a rule or of good manners or sportsmanship, or may have brought the sport into disrepute, it may call a hearing. The protest committee shall promptly inform the competitor in writing of the alleged misconduct and of the time and place of the hearing.
    (b) A protest committee of at least three members shall conduct the hearing, following rules 63.2, 63.3, 63.4 and 63.6. If it decides that the competitor committed the alleged misconduct, it shall either,
      (1) warn the competitor or
      (2) impose a penalty by excluding the competitor from a race, or the remaining races of a series or the entire series, or by taking other action within its jurisdiction.
    (c) The protest committee shall promptly report a penalty, but not a warning, to the national authorities of the venue and of the competitor.
    (d) If the competitor has left the venue and cannot be notified or fails to attend the hearing, the protest committee shall collect all available evidence and, when the allegation seems justified, make a report to the relevant national authorities.
    (e) When the protest committee has left the event and a report alleging misconduct is received, the race committee or organizing authority may appoint a new protest committee to proceed under this rule.
  69.2 ACTION BY A NATIONAL AUTHORITY

    (a) When a national authority receives a report required by rule 69.1(c) or 69.1(d), or a report alleging a gross breach of a rule or of good manners or sportsmanship or conduct that brought the sport into disrepute, it may conduct an investigation and, when appropriate, shall conduct a hearing. It may then takeany disciplinary action within its jurisdiction it considers appropriate against the competitor or board, or other person involved, including suspending eligibility, permanently or for a specified period of time, to compete in any event held within its jurisdiction, and suspending ISAF eligibility under rule K3.1(a).
    (b) The national authority of a competitor shall also suspend the ISAF eligibility of the competitor as required by rule K3.1(a).
    (c) The national authority shall promptly report a suspension of eligibility under rule 69.2(a) to the ISAF, and to the national authorities of the board suspended if they are not members of the suspending national authority.

  69.3 ACTION BY THE ISAF
Upon receipt of a report required by rules 69.2(c) and K4.1, the ISAF shall inform all national authorities, which may also suspend eligibility for events held within their jurisdiction. The ISAF Executive Committee shall suspend the competitor's ISAF eligibility as required by rule K3.1(a) if the competitor's national authority does not do so.

SECTION D

70 Right of Appeal and Requests for Interpretation
  70.1 Provided that the right of appeal has not been denied under rule 70.4, a protest committees interpretation of a rule or its procedures, but not the facts in its decision, may be appealed to the national authority of the venue by,

    (a) a competitor that is a party to the hearing or,
    (b) a race committee that is a party to the hearing, provided the protest committee is a jury.

  70.2 All appeals shall be made to the National Authority, in accordance with the procedures laid down by that National Authority and the ISAF,

  70.3 Competitors, clubs and class associations may request an interpretation of the rules from a national authority, or the International Funboard Class Association, provided no rule 69.1 protest is involved that may be appealed. Such an interpretation is an opinion which may or may not be accepted by a Protest Committee. ISAF interpretations and published appeals are authoritive,

  70.4 There shall be no appeal,

    (a) from the decisions of an international jury,
    (b) from the decisions of a protest committee in an elimination series, except that appeals are allowed against decisions under rule 69 - Gross Misconduct.

  70.5 Appeals shall conform to RRS Appendix F.

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