Ruling of the Tribunal on an application by British Telecommunications plc (“BT”), made on 29 November 2013, for permission to amend its Notice of Appeal. For the reasons set out in Ruling, the Tribunal refused BT’s application on the basis that the circumstances relied upon by BT did not constitute ‘exceptional circumstances’, as required by Rule 11(3)(c). The Tribunal considered, in particular, that to permit BT to amend its Notice of Appeal and introduce a new ground of appeal after the hearing of this complex case had concluded and, in effect, to reopen the proceedings, would undermine the orderly and efficient conduct of appeals before the Tribunal, and be unfair to the other parties.
The Tribunal directed that the period for any appeal against the Ruling be extended until one month after the date on which the Tribunal hands down judgment on the appeals in case cases 1205-1207/3/3/13 and ordered that BT pay the other parties’ costs of addressing the application for permission to amend.