Section B — General Limitations

(a) The protest committee may reopen a hearing if it decides (1) a party was unavoidably absent from the hearing, (2) it may have made a significant error, or (3) significant new evidence has become available within a reasonable time. However, a protest committee shall reopen a hearing when required to do so by the national authority under rule 71.3 or R5. (b) A party to the hearing may request a reopening by delivering a written request to the race office (or by such other method as stated in the sailing instructions) no later than 24 hours after being informed of the decision. The request shall identify the reason for making it. However, on the last scheduled day of racing the request shall be delivered (1) within the protest time limit if the requesting party was informed of the decision on the previous day; (2) no later than 30 minutes after the party was informed of the decision on that day. A request that does not comply with this rule is invalid. (c) The protest committee shall consider all requests to reopen a hearing. When a request to reopen is being considered, or when the hearing is reopened, (1) if based only on new evidence, a majority of the members of the protest committee shall, if practicable, be members of the original committee; (2) if based on a significant error, the protest committee shall, if practicable, have at least one new member.