The case concerned an applicant from Bangladesh who submitted an interim request on 14 October 2022 before the Tribunal of Naples requesting the later to order the Police (Questura) to formalise his application for international protection.

In fact, the applicant stated to have come from Bangladesh in Italy due to an alleged wish to escape persecution. He was willing to make an application for international protection and contacted a lawyer to initiate the proceedings. Upon specific mandate, the lawyer submitted, via PEC of 25/7/2022, an application to the Police Headquarters of Naples-Immigration Office in order to express the applicant’s intention to apply for international protection. In the absence of a reply from the Police Headquarter and due to a significant time lapse and the irregular presence of the applicant in Italy, with a high risk of being caught and ordered expulsion, along with an impossibility to access essential services to which he would have been entitled with formalisation of his application, the applicant submitted an interim request before the Tribunal of Naples. The Questura stated that due to the high number of asylum applications received and especially requests from  persons who fled from Ukraine, they have experienced some issues with regards to the formal registration of applications.

The tribunal noted the provision of Article 26 of the Decree no. 25/2008 laying down the procedure for access to the international protection and stated that the Police Headquarters (Questura) had no discretion on the mere manifestation of the wish of the applicant to access the asylum procedure and was obliged to receive it within the prescribed time limits as provided by law, whereas the assessment of the merits is the attribute of the territorial commission.

In view of the fact that the applicant expressed his wish to apply for international protection through the lawyer, via PEC submission of 25 July 2022, the tribunal noted that the ordinary 3 days and the 30 days terms laid down in Article 26 (2bis) of the Legislative Decree no 25/2008 have clearly lapsed. The tribunal stated that the lack of response from the police cannot be justified by the fact that there were increases in the number of applications along with numerous applications for temporary protection due to the war in Ukraine.

The tribunal allowed the applicant’s request as urgent and ordered the Police Headquarters of the Province of Naples to proceed to the immediate formalisation of the application for international protection as soon as possible but no later than 15 days from the date of notification of the present decision.

The Tribunal of Naples recalled the provisions of Article 26 of the Legislative Decree 25/2008, clarifying the role and competencies of the Questura, which has exclusive competence  to receive the formal registration and then it is the Territorial Commissions’ competence to assess the application. The Tribunal found that the applicant expressed his willingness to apply for international protection through certified email for a period of three months and the request remained unsolved within the maximum time limit of 13 days set by Legislative Decree 25/2008.

The Tribunal of Naples ordered to the Questura of Naples to proceed with the immediate formal registration of the applicant’s application for international protections as soon as possible but no later than 15 days from the date of notification of the present decision.

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