The applicant, a Ukrainian national, applied for international protection in December 2019. Her application has been rejected by the Head of the Refugee Board and by the Provincial Administrative Court which dismissed the appeal. The applicant lodged an appeal in cassation against that judgment before the Supreme Administrative Court, challenging it in its entirety.

By decision of 5 July 2022, the Supreme Administrative Court annulled the judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court and the Head of the Office for Affairs Foreigners on refusing to grant refugee status the applicant.

In its arguments, the Supreme Administrative Court highlighted that Polish regulations allowed administrative courts to consider only the facts existing on the date of issuing the decision by administrative bodies, and not on the date of the judgment by the court. Thus, administrative bodies cannot consider the change of factual circumstances, in this case the outbreak of war, which took place after the issuance of the decision by the administrative authorities and before the court issued a judgment.

Nonetheless, the Supreme Administrative Court considered that the exceptional circumstances related to the evolution of the situation in Ukraine following the war launched by the Russian Federation on 24 February 2022 called for a single approach by the administrative judiciary to ensure that the procedure for assessing the legality of decisions refusing international protection complies with the standards of Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and the provision of the recast Asylum Procedures Directive.

The Supreme Administrative Court concluded that it was inconsistent with EU law to not consider changes in the factual situation in the country of origin of foreigners, in this instance war, which took place following the decision provided by the administrative authorities. Thus, the Supreme Administrative Court considered the changing situation in Ukraine following the outbreak of hostilities covering the entire territory of Ukraine. This situation has changed considerably compared to the time of the final decision, which may have an impact on a different assessment of the risk of the foreigner and administrative courts have henceforth the right and obligation to consider changes in the factual situation that occurred after the issuing of a negative decision on international protection.