Federal Court of Australia

Form 55A: Notice of appeal from a Tribunal decision
Version: 6
Rule: Order 53, rule 2 and Order 59, rule 1

Guide to Form 55A

Please read this guide and the form carefully. As the party appealing a decision of a Tribunal (the applicant ) you are responsible for making sure all your paperwork is in order. Although the Court’s Registry staff can check your forms and other court papers for completeness (for example, they check for signatures, and that attachments are present and signed by an authorised person within your State or Territory) and give you information about the Court’s procedures, they can not give you legal advice and they are not responsible for the accuracy of your documents.

When should you use form 55A?

Form 55A should be used if you want to appeal against:
· a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal under section 44 of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975;
· a decision of the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal under section 46 of the Superannuation (Resolution of Complaints) Act 1993.
· a decision of the Australian Competition Tribunal under section 44ZR of the Trade Practices Act 1974;
· a decision of the Federal Police Disciplinary Tribunal under section 79 of the Complaints (Australian Federal Police) Act 1981.

An appeal can only be made if the Tribunal made the wrong decision because of an error of law.

Drafting a Notice of Appeal can be very difficult. It is therefore recommended that a Notice of Appeal be prepared with legal assistance.

You can get contact details of organisations which may be able to provide free or low-cost legal advice or assistance from the Registry or see the Court’s website.

How do you appeal?

An appeal from a decision of a Tribunal must be made to the Court in the following way.

1. Get a Form 55A and fill it out. This is the Notice of Appeal. On this form you are called the applicant. You can get a copy of Form 55A from the Registry or download a copy from the Court’s website.

2. The Notice of Appeal must be filed in a Registry of the Court within 28 days of the date when you received the document setting out the Tribunal’s decision. If the time to appeal has run out you must first apply for an extension of this period and set out the reasons for the delay. Use Form 55B. You can get a copy of Form 55B from the Registry or download a copy from the Court’s website.

3. The original Notice of Appeal plus a copy for each other party and the Registrar of the relevant Tribunal, must be delivered to the Federal Court. You can do this by bringing the documents to the Registry, or by posting or faxing them, or by sending them by the internet. This is called filing. More information about filing is available from the Registry and on the Court’s website.

Make sure you have a copy of the Notice of Appeal for yourself.

4. Pay the application fee. If you cannot afford this fee you can ask the Court to waive it. Some people are also exempt from paying fees (for example, if you have been granted Legal Aid or are the holder of a health care card). You can get a form to ask the Court to waive or grant an exemption from the fee from the Registry or download a copy from the Court’s website.

5. If the document is in the correct form Registry staff will stamp the original and the copies of the Notice of Appeal. The Registry will also write on the Notice of Appeal the time and date when the matter will be first considered by the Court.

6. You must arrange for a stamped copy of the Notice of Appeal to be served on each other party and the Registrar of the relevant Tribunal no more than seven days after it was filed in the Court. For information about service see Order 7 rule 4 of the Federal Court Rules.

7. If you need the Tribunal’s decision to be suspended until your appeal is heard you must file a separate application to the Court. Use Form 27 and Form 20. Copies of these forms are available from the Registry or you can download a copy from the Court’s website.

How to fill in your Notice of Appeal from a Tribunal Decision

Please read all of these notes before completing the Notice of Appeal form.

These instructions assume that you are not represented by a lawyer.

Heading

In the spaces provided, write:
· your full name;
· the name of each respondent to the appeal.

Paragraph 1

In the spaces provided, write:
· the name of the Tribunal that made the decision;
· the name of the members of the Tribunal who made the decision;
· the date of the decision;
· the city where the decision was made;
· the actual decision or determination that was made by the Tribunal.

All of these details should be on the correspondence you received from the Tribunal that notified you of the decision.

Paragraph 2

In this part of the form you must write down the errors of law that you say the Tribunal made. You can set out as many errors as you wish. However you cannot ask the Federal Court to change any findings of fact that the Tribunal has made.

Paragraph 3

In this part of the form you must write down the orders which you want the Court to make.

Paragraph 4

In this part of the form you must write down the facts that support the orders that you are seeking.

Date and signature

The notice of appeal must be signed and dated.

Respondent details

In the space provided after the words "To the respondent", write the address of each respondent.

Paragraph after the words "Take Notice"

The paragraph after the words “Take Notice” is completed by the Registry staff when you file the notice of appeal. It gives the date, time and location of the first directions hearing.

Address for service

In the next space provided write the address to which the Court or the respondent can deliver or send letters or documents to you. The address must be in Australia. The address must be a street address and cannot be a Post Office Box. This is called your address for service.

Filing details

Under the horizontal line on the first page of the notice, write:
· your name
· your address for service, telephone number and facsimile number (if any).