The applicant lodged an appeal against the failure to take a decision on the application within the time limit, to grant him a temporary asylum residence permit. By decision of 15 December 2020, the State Secretary for Justice and Security granted the application without determining that there is a penalty owed to the applicant for the decision taken after the legal time limit.

The Temporary Act on the Suspension of Incremental Penalty Payments (applied between 11 July 2020 and 11 July 2021) excluded the possibility of lodging an appeal with the administrative court, for those complaining that the asylum application was not processed within the foreseen deadlines.

The Council of State found that this legislative amendment made it extremely difficult for applicants to have access to an effective guarantee to their right to a timely decision, and as such, the law did not offer an effective legal remedy. It declared the law to be non-binding, meaning that the administrative court is nevertheless competent to hear appeals for failure to take a timely decision relating to the period mentioned.