On 10 April 2022, the applicant requested international protection pursuant to Article 28 of the Aliens Act. By letter dated 13 October 2022, the applicant gave notice of default to the State Secretary for Justice and Security due to the lack of a decision on his asylum application.

On 28 October 2022, he lodged an appeal with the court against the failure to make a timely decision on his application.

The Court of the Hague seating in Amsterdam noted that, on 27 September 2022, legislation (document no WBV 2022/22) was passed to extend the decision period for all asylum applications by nine months if the decision period for an application has not expired on the date of entry into force of WBV 2022/22 and for applications submitted until 1 January 2023, which also includes the applicant’s request.

The noted also noted that pursuant to Article 42(4) of the Aliens Act, the State Secretary can extend the decision period in asylum cases by a maximum of nine months if a large number of foreign nationals submit an application at the same time, which makes it very difficult in practice to carry out the asylum procedure. In view of the figures submitted in the file, the court concluded that there was an increase in the number of asylum applications from the second half of 2021, but that there was no question of a situation as referred to in Article 42(4). The court was of the opinion that the State Secretary had insufficiently substantiated that the influx of displaced persons from Ukraine had an impact on its decision-making capacity, as they fall under the Temporary Protection Directive, on the basis of which they already enjoy protection in the Netherlands, and those who submitted applications for international protection are subject to a decision and departure moratorium, and thus no decision needs to be made in their case. The court also noted that the State Secretary failed to prove that the group of Afghan asylum applicants or the number of applicants in the Dublin procedure which could not be transferred to other countries were causes for the delays in decision making time. Thus, the State Secretary has not properly substantiated the situation in which a large number of foreign nationals submit an application at the same time, making it very difficult in practice to complete the procedure within the six-month period.

The court concluded that the State Secretary for Justice and Security has exceeded the deadline for deciding on the application for asylum. It noted that WBV 2022/22, in which the initial decision period of six months has been extended by nine months, is not legally valid. 

In the applicant’s case, the court noted that a decision should have been taken no later than 10 October 2022. It thus held that the State Secretary must still take a decision on the claimant's application for asylum within sixteen weeks, subject to a penalty of € 100 per day with a maximum of € 7,500.