Cases for the Appellate Body

The deadline for lodging an appeal against a decision made by the seafarer's doctor, is three weeks from the time the person received information about the decision.

There is no deadline for applications for exemption.

Both appeals against a decision made by the seafarer's doctor and applications for exemption must be in writing and signed by the person. The appeal/application for exemption must be sent to the seafarer's doctor who issued the relevant declaration of unfitness or limited/restricted medical certificate. 

The person has to write what they would like to change and argue for the appeal/application for exemption. The following should be attached: information about the person's position, work tasks (including function in the event of a fire or evacuation), any safety task or navigational or engineering watch function, type of vessel, work hours, manning and trade area.

When lodging an appeal or applying for exemption, the seafarer's doctor must assess whether the declaration of unfitness or the limited/restricted medical certificate should be rescinded or altered. 

If the decision is altered, or when an appeal based on legal interes is accepted, the seafarer's doctor must notify the person and set a deadline for comments before the seafarer's doctor prepares the case for processing by the Appellate Body for health cases. When the assessment is done, the seafarer's doctor must send the appeal/application for exemption to the Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA), who will forward the case to the Appellate Body. Reference is made to the guide to the Health Regulations chapter 12.

The seafarer's doctor must ensure that the case is clarified as thoroughly as possible and send it to the NMA together with an individual risk assessment or the case, all relevant medical information, a recommendation for the desired result with arguments and any comments from the party or others with a legal interes.

The seafarer's doctor has a duty to clarify and inform the person, cf. Section 11 in the Public Adminstration Act . 

The NMA receives, registers and forwards appeal/application for exemption to the Appellate Body for health cases for consideration. If the case is deficient,  the NMA may request further information from the seafarer's doctor before the case is forwarded to the Appellate Body for health cases.

The Appellate Body for health cases considers the case and determine whether the appeal of application for exemption shall be granted or rejected. The decision of the Appellate Body complies with the procedural rules of the Public Administration Act.

The seafarer's doctor can never revert the Appellate Body for health cases' decisions.

The person is responsible for bringing the Appellate Body's decision to the medical examination. The seafarer's doctor is obliged to comply with the Appellate Body's decision and accordingly issue a medical certificate or a declaration of unfitness. 

In accordance with Section 28 in the Public Administration Act, cf. Section 14 in the Health Regulations, the decision by the Appellate Body is finite, and can not be further appealed.

In cases where ordinary postal services will significantly delay cases being sent to the Appellate Body, the NMA accept these cases by secure emails. Provided that the NMA accepts the seafarer's doctor's secure email system, all necessary documentation related to the case shall be sent by email to the NMA for further case handling. 

In cases where the seafarer's doctor's secure email system fails to the NMA's standards, the case shall be sent by ordinary postal services to:

The Norwegian Maritime Authority
P. O. Box 2222
N-5509 Haugesund
NORWAY

The processing time is normally one to three months.