Page 29 - Judge Manual 2017

• in oceanic and offshore races;
In general, if the protest committee decides that its members can be present
through a remote system, they could allow the same for parties and witnesses.

E.12 Recommendations for Remote Hearings:

Remote hearings should be conducted with videoconference systems and
simultaneously transmitted to all the persons involved in the hearing.

A videoconference system is a program, protocol or device that uses Internet
to transmit multimedia streams that include at least voice and video of the
persons involved. Eventually, other streams can be included, like a video feed
of the protest room table or a virtual whiteboard.

It is essential to have a strong broadband connection to make videoconference
hearings work. It is a responsibility of parties and witnesses to have a proper
connection available.

If present, the on-site protest committee member has a major role in setting this
up. The following is a non-exhaustive checklist of his or her additional duties:

• For hearings occurring during an event, have a default time set up in
advance of the event when you expect off-site persons to be available.
Consider the time zones for all persons involved.

• Send copies of the protest and other documentation to the off-site protest
committee members and parties.
• If the parties will use video evidence, try get copies in advance to forward to
the off-site protest committee members and parties.

• Have a projector and screen so that the parties can see as well as hear the
off-site protest committee members.

• Make sure that all the parties and witnesses are alone in the room, without
communicating with others.

• Make sure everyone, both at the hearing and off-site, are happy with the
procedures.

In some remote situations, videoconference remote hearing might not be
possible (for example, during oceanic races). Only in this case, the remote
hearing can be processed through emails. This should be specified in the
Notice of Race / Sailing Instructions, as detailed in Section O.