Introduction

The following procedure defines the process steps to be taken in the event that a scheme owner wishes to appeal against a decision taken by the GFSI Board, the GFSI Executive Director or any person contracted to the GFSI in relation to the benchmarking process and the associated systems and procedures. Only the scheme owner to whom the decision relates has the right of appeal to the GFSI Board regarding the status of GFSI recognition and the Appeal Notice shall be submitted by an authoritative person from the scheme management or governing board.

Procedure

The scheme owner shall submit an Appeal Notice to the GFSI Executive Director within 30 days of the matter in dispute occurring. The Appeal Notice shall be submitted in writing to the GFSI Executive Director and shall clearly describe the reason and the justification for the appeal, together with substantive evidence to assist with the investigation of the appeal.

The Appeal Notice shall clearly state the reason and rationale for the objection, contain documented objective evidence to support the appeal and details of the person responsible within the objecting scheme owner’s organisation. The Appeal Notice shall be signed by an authoritative person from the objecting scheme owner and shall include the name, position, signature and date of signature.

The GFSI Executive Director shall formally acknowledge receipt of the Appeal Notice to the objecting scheme owner. This acknowledgement shall take place within 24 hours of receipt of the Appeal Notice. The GFSI Executive Director shall also notify the GFSI Board members within 24 hours of receipt of the Appeal Notice.

The GFSI Executive Director shall review the Appeals Notice with the Chairman of the GFSI Board. If it is deemed that the information provided in the Appeal Notice is insufficient or subjective in nature, he / she shall contact the signatory of the Appeal Notice and make his / her observations known. The scheme owner has the right to resubmit the Appeals Notice with additional information, but should they choose not to do so, the Chairman of the GFSI Board has the authority to reject the appeal at that stage.

In the event that an appeal is deemed not justified, then the scheme owner and the GFSI Board will be informed. The decision concerning the validity of the appeal shall be made within 2 days of the receipt of the Appeal Notice.

The GFSI Executive Director will make the decision known to the scheme owner and GFSI Board members whether or not to take forward or reject the appeal within 2 days of the receipt of the Appeal Notice. In the event that the appeal is not taken forward the reason for the decision will be made known to the scheme owner and GFSI Board members.

When the appeal procedure is initiated, the status of the scheme shall be amended on the GFSI website to reflect that the scheme is subject to appeal.

The appeal shall be considered by an Appeals Committee, which is a committee specifically assembled by the

GFSI Board. The GFSI Executive Director shall ask the Chairman of the GFSI Board to invite three members of the Advisory Council to sit on the Committee. The GFSI Executive Director shall ensure that none of the invited members of the Advisory Council has any possible conflict of interest in relation