Appeals
Date published: 10 March, 2016
Making an appeal
If we have written to tell you we have already – or soon will – refuse, withhold, reduce or recover your Forestry Grant Scheme payment and you are not sure about the reasons why we have made this decision, contact your Scottish Forestry conservancy office for more information.
Scottish Forestry Conservancy offices
If after we have explained our reasons for the action we are proposing to take or have taken and you are not satisfied with our decision, you may ask us to formally review our decision under the EU Rural Payments Appeals procedure.
Please note that if you wish to appeal our decision, you must submit a written request to your Scottish Forestry conservancy office no later than 60 days (the legal timescale) from the date of our original decision letter on an appeal form.
Scottish Forestry conservancy office staff will then arrange to meet with you – or phone you if you prefer – to formally review your appeal in more detail. By law we must do this no later than 60 days from the date we receive your request for appeal.
This conversation will give you the opportunity to explain to a senior member of staff why you think our decision is incorrect, provide additional evidence, ask any related questions and seek relevant clarification.
Our staff will explain why the initial decision was taken, the relevant Scottish and European Commission legislation and, if relevant, why we applied a penalty.
The conservancy office must then send you a written report of the review meeting within 60 days. The report will either confirm, amend or alter our original decision, or revoke it entirely and substitute a new decision.
Further action
If the appeal upholds the original decision and you wish to continue with your case, you need to submit a formal appeal directly to the Scottish Land Court.
The court will then make its own arrangements to deal with it.
Your appeal to the court needs to be made within 60 days of the day that you received the written report of the Scottish Forestry conservancy appeal meeting.
Find out more information on the Scottish Land Court:
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