Investigation may well be done by a sub-committee but the deciding authority must then be apprised of that material.

By the stealth of this proposal, it is clear that Brussels aspires to replace the nation state as the deciding authority on company taxation.

The persuasive document, a motion or a brief, attempts to persuade a deciding authority to favorably decide the dispute for the author's client.

If any of the matters in issue have to be decided again, this must be done by the original deciding authority and not by the supervising court.

Thus, it is accepted that if a minister is made the deciding authority he will often have to act through officers to collect the material and the officer may even make the decision in the minister's name.

In harmonizing difference in opinion, the National Shariah Advisory Council, the highest deciding authority on Shariah issues pertaining to Islamic Financial System, was set up in 1997.

Whether the material thus collected can be summarised, and whether all those on the deciding authority must possess all the papers will depend on the nature of the function being performed and the language of the enabling statute.