The Chairman of the GFSI Board shall appoint an Appeals Committee Chairman, who will have responsibility to co-ordinate the activities of the Committee, document all actions, comments and decisions appertaining to the appeal and report back to the GFSI Board on their decision to uphold or reject the appeal. The Chairman of the Appeals Committee shall ensure throughout all stages of the appeals process that all proceedings shall be conducted in an impartial and professional manner.

The GFSI Executive Director shall ensure all members of the Appeals Committee have a complete copy of the Appeal Notice, signed by the scheme owner and any other information related to the appeal. This may include recognition application data, investigative documentation from complaint reviews or documentation relating to continuous assessment.

The Chairman of the Appeals Committee shall decide upon the duration of the review of information submitted by the GFSI Executive Director and make this known to other members of the Committee, the Chairman of the GFSI Board and the GFSI Executive Director. The duration of the investigative phase of the appeal will, however, be no longer than four weeks from receipt of the confirmation of the GFSI Executive Director to take the appeal forward.

During this investigative phase the chairman of the Appeals Committee will liaise with other committee members and the scheme owner to establish the validity of the objection and to collate information and opinions allowing a decision to be made. The liaison with the scheme owner will always be with the signatory of the Appeal Notice.

The Chairman of the Appeals Committee shall ensure a meeting takes place between the Appeals Committeeand the scheme owner (signatory of the Appeal Notice and any other parties nominated by the signatory)within six weeks of the acceptance of the appeal by the GFSI Executive Director. The meeting will be fully minuted.