The GMC is to seek permission to appeal against a High Court ruling which protects medical expert witnesses from disciplinary action.
It believes the decision in the case of paediatrician Professor Sir Roy Meadow last month would prevent it from acting in the public interest if a doctor had fallen significantly below acceptable standards.
Finlay Scott, GMC chief executive, said it did not want to reinstate its decision to strike off Professor Meadow, but to challenge 'points of law' surrounding the protection of expert witnesses.
Mr Scott said: 'The way that judgment has been laid out does not confine it narrowly to experts giving evidence as a neutral party.