The Gafta Appeal Board exam is aimed at Gafta arbitrators who wish to sit on the Board of Appeal as well as on first tier cases.

The exam is aimed at professionals who:

• Wish to demonstrate high levels of competence
• Are looking to progress their career within the grain trade
• Want to test their knowledge

Criteria

The Gafta Trade Diploma is open to candidates who:

• Are members of Gafta
• Have passed the four Gafta Professional Development (GPD) courses OR passed the six Gafta Distance Learning Programme (DLP) modules within the last 5 years

Structure

The Trade Diploma takes 3 hours and 15 minutes and is an online-based paper. The paper is divided into 3 sections:

Part A is a series of general knowledge questions designed to test your understanding of the industry.
Part B is an essay question based on a hypothetical scenario, designed to test your ability to analyse the potential issues and outcomes of certain situations.
Part C is a document-analysis question designed to test your ability to recognise issues with documents and analyse the problems that may arise from them.

Candidates must achieve 65% in every section of the exam in order to pass.

Fee

Exam fee: £500 exclusive of VAT

The process:

1. Notify Gafta that you wish to take the exam
2. Gafta will check that you meet all the requirements
3. Notify Gafta where you would like to take your exam. Gafta can host exam candidates at the London and Kiev offices. All other locations must have a Gafta member host who is not your employer
4. Gafta will confirm who will be hosting & invigilating your exam (for exams not held at Gafta only)
5. Confirm a date and time for your paper – you must give Gafta at least 6 - 8 week's notice.

Contact events@gafta.com to discuss your exam requirements

Conditions

For Trade Diploma:

• Candidates who fail the exam can arrange to re-take once.
• Retakes must be taken within 12 months of the first paper.
• Candidates who fail the retake paper must wait 24 months before attempting the exam again.

For Arbitrator Diploma:

• Candidates must pay an exam fee of £500 for each attempt.
• Candidates may attempt the exam twice (initial attempt + one retake).
• The first attempt and the retake must be completed within 12 months of each other.
• Candidates who fail both attempts must wait 5 years before attempting the exam again.
• Candidates shall be required to repeat any training that has expired before sitting the exam again after the 5-year period.

For Appeal Board Exam:

• Candidates who fail the exam must wait 12 months before they are eligible to retake.

General Conditions for All Exams

• Candidates must be employees of Gafta members or be members in their own right.
• Candidates must not use their own personal computers/laptops to take the exam.
• Candidates who take the exam anywhere other than Gafta London may be charged a fee towards room hire and/or invigilation. Any additional charges will be agreed with candidates in advance.
• Exams cannot be arranged until the relevant training has been passed.
• If there is a training requirement for the exam, training must have been completed within 5 years of your exam date.
• Exemption decisions are final.
• Exam papers must be written and submitted in English. Candidates are partly assessed on the standard of written English exhibited.