EAT Time Limits

An unusual case. The cut-off point for lodging an appeal is 4.00pm on the 42nd day after the decision is sent to the parties.

On the 42nd day, the Appellant started faxing its 21-page Notice of Appeal a minute or so before 4.00pm (the deadline), but the 21 pages did not finish transmitting until 4.09pm. And due to a queue in the EAT's fax machine, the Notice did not start PRINTING until 4.06pm, i.e. after the deadline.

Burton P., sitting alone, held that when a Notice of Appeal is lodged by fax, the trigger point is when it BEGINS being transmitted, rather than when it finishes being transmitted or when it is printed out. Thus the appeal was lodged in time.