9. Annual appeals process
9.1 Within the month of March each year, a two-week period is set aside for harvesters to review their classification and submit an appeal if they do not agree with the given classification award, or have supplementary data/evidence to support the award of a more favourable classification status.
9.2 An independent appeals panel sits each year, chaired by FSS. These appeal requests are assessed by the independent panel of experts and the final classification decisions for each area are agreed by the panel and the recommendations presented to FSS. The panel only deal with appeals that meet a specific criterion. For example, any appeal request lodged against an unfavourable classification decision due to insufficient sample numbers (i.e. less than 8 for B/C, or less than 10 for A) will not be considered by the panel for review. These appeals will be reviewed by FSS internally on a case-by-case basis, considering any supporting information provided, or circumstances that have resulted in an inability to provide the required number of samples.
9.3 Any complaint harvesters wish to submit to FSS regarding any aspect of the classification process can be sent via email to shellfish@fss.scot.
9.4 Upon completion of the appeals process, the final annual classification decisions are made available via SMC.
9.5 This information is also published in our shellfish guidance.