Page 18 - World Sailing Misconduct Guidance

28.2 A person with a conflict of interest (as defined in the RRS) should not be a member of the
committee and neither should anyone who has had in the past strong individual disagreements or
animosity with the competitor. However, the provisions of rule 63.4(b) apply to the hearing and
the protest committee may proceed if one of its members has a conflict of interest (if the criteria in
that rule are satisfied).

28.3 A person is not prevented from being a member of the protest committee because they witnessed
the alleged misconduct occurring. However, they must still comply with rule 63.6.

28.4 Any objection (and the committee's decision on it) must be recorded.

29 Conducting the hearing

29.1 The hearing must be conducted under the normal procedures for hearings that apply - rules 63.2,
63.3(a), 63.4 and 63.6 as modified by rule 69.2(e).

29.2 In addition, it is vital that a record is kept as near as verbatim as possible of the procedure,
questions, answers and statements. This task should be delegated to either a member of the
committee or (preferably) to a secretary.

29.3 It is increasingly common practice to audio record the hearing. This can be done provided that all
persons in the hearing (including witnesses who may attend for only part of it later) are informed
that it is being recorded. The recording should not include any private deliberations of the protest
committee. Access later to the recording is a decision of the protest committee – no party has an
automatic right to a copy of it.

29.4 The protest committee should follow the checklist in Appendices C or D (whichever is relevant)
when conducting the hearing.

30 Mitigation

30.1 If the protest committee find that misconduct occurred, it should reconvene the hearing and
inform the competitor of its findings. It should then ask the competitor if they wish to say anything
before the committee considers whether or not any penalty should be imposed (i.e. ask for
mitigation).

30.2 It is not recommended to ask the competitor if they wish to apologise but they should be given an
opportunity to do so. Apologies should be given voluntarily if they are to have any meaning.
However a sincere expression of regret and apology should be carefully considered by the
committee.

31 Warnings

31.1 Competitors usually take warnings seriously. If the protest committee believes from the
demeanour of the competitor at the hearing that a warning would not be heeded, then it should
penalize instead.

31.2 If the competitor’s boat has already been given disqualification for breaking rule 2, and if it were
thought that this is sufficient punishment, then a warning would be appropriate.

17 World Sailing Misconduct Guidance