Observation (SHD): Oral Hearings

Oral hearings

Can I request an oral hearing?
Yes. You can request an oral hearing. The Board will generally only hold an oral hearing to help it understand a particularly complex case or if it involves significant national or local issues. The Board has the power to hold an oral hearing with or without a request for one. In SHD applications, oral hearings will only be held in very rare cases.

How do I ask for an oral hearing?
To ask for an oral hearing, you need to make an oral hearing request. To make a request you must:

• tick the box that says "Yes, I want to request an oral hearing" on the Observation Form, or
• write in your observation that you want to ask for an oral hearing, or
• write to us and ask for one.

Please note, if you request an oral hearing, you will have to pay the €20 observation fee plus an additional non-refundable fee of €50, so €70 in all.