In a final judgment of 18 May 2023 (case number IV SA/Wa 344/23), the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw upheld the appeal of F., an Iraqi citizen, who had challenged the decision of the Council for Refugee Affairs to discontinue the appeal proceedings. The Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw annulled the decision of the Council and the previous decision of the head of the Office for Foreigners and discontinued the administrative proceedings in the case.
In a final judgment of 18 May 2023 (case number IV SA/Wa 344/23), the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw upheld the appeal of F., an Iraqi citizen, who had challenged the decision of the Council for Refugee Affairs to discontinue the appeal proceedings. The Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw annulled the decision of the Council and the previous decision of the head of the Office for Foreigners and discontinued the administrative proceedings in the case.
In March 2022, F. filed an application for international protection with the head of the Office for Foreigners. In August 2022, the head of the Office issued a decision refusing to grant F. refugee status and subsidiary protection. F. lodged an appeal against this decision with the Council for Refugee Affairs. During the appeal proceedings before the Council for Refugee Affairs, F. withdrew his application for international protection, which was treated as a withdrawal of the appeal by the second instance authority. On 13 December 2022, the Council for Refugee Affairs decided to discontinue the appeal proceedings while confirming the decision of the authority of first instance.
F. applied for a judicial review of the Council’s decision at the Provincial Administrative Court on the grounds that the Council for Refugee Affairs had unjustifiably discontinued the appeal proceedings and wrongly declared that the withdrawal of the application for international protection was equivalent to the withdrawal of the appeal against the decision.
On 18 May 2023, the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw ruled in F.’s favour and found that an appeal body (in this case the Council for Refugee Affairs) should have annulled the contested decision in its entirety and discontinued the administrative proceedings in their entirety, as the entire proceedings had become objectively irrelevant due to the lack of an application by the person concerned. The court also agreed with the appellant that the withdrawal of the application for international protection at the appeal stage cannot be regarded as a withdrawal of the appeal. According to the Provincial Administrative Court, the provisions of the Code of Administrative Procedure on the grounds for discontinuing the proceedings should have been applied, as the Act on the Granting of Protection to Foreigners on the Territory of the Republic of Poland does not exclude the application of these provisions in matters of international protection.
This is a landmark decision confirming that persons applying for international protection have sole control over their application. They have the right to waive their application for international protection if they decide to do so in the course of the administrative proceedings.
Already after the judgment in question, the position presented by the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw was applied by the Council for Refugees in another case. In its decision of 13 October 2023 No. RdU-108-2/S/23, the Council overruled the decision of the Head of the Office for Foreigners in its entirety and discontinued the first-instance proceedings on the granting of international protection in its entirety, considering the application for protection to have been implicitly withdrawn due to the applicant's departure from the territory of the Republic of Poland.
F. was represented by Maria Poszytek, a lawyer cooperating with the HFHR.
The judgment is final and cannot be appealed. To read the judgment, use the link below.
