Tribunal rules to be updated
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NEW REGULATIONS affecting procedures at industrial tribunal hearings have been laid before Parliament for approval.
The new rules are aimed at giving the tribunal better and more comprehensive information about the case and it is thought that time will be saved at hearings if the tribunal does not have to establish basic facts.
And more facts than have been supplied by either side may be requested by the tribunal before the hearing. This is a change from present procedures where a tribunal can only ask for further information at the request of one of the parties.
. Powers to dismiss cases where an applicant fails to arrive for a hearing without an explanation are also included in the new rules.
A tribunal will have the powers to allow one side to copy the documents of another under the regulations — at present documents only have to be produced, not made available for copying.
New powers for one tribunal to review a decision of another are also contained in thf mks, but this can only be done where it is impracticable for the original tribunal to do so, or where it was the decision of the chairman of the panel sitting alone.
The rules are laid before Parliament under the negative resolution procedure.
Under this procedure MPs must make a move to say that they do not want the rules to he introduced — but otherwise they are not debated.