The case concerned an appeal submitted by a company against the Board Director decision to reject an application to grant a work permit for an applicant. The company appealed against, and the court of the Hague seated in Arnhen annulled the contested decision. The Court of The Hague, Arnhem stated in its judgment of 18 April 2023, the 24-week requirement of Article 6.2, opening words and under c, of the Decree on the Implementation of the Aliens Employment Act 2022 is contrary to Article 15 (1-2) of the recast Reception Conditions Directive (RCD). The court considered that it derives from Article 15 (2) of the recast RCD that the conditions that Member States impose on the access of asylum seekers to the labor market may not lead to effective access being unnecessarily limited. The 24-week requirement limits asylum seekers' access to the labor market, because they are not allowed to perform any work for the remaining 28 weeks of the 52-week period.

The Board of Directors further appealed before the Council of State arguing that the Court of the Hague used an incorrect standard of review by ruling that effective access "may not be unnecessarily limited". The Board of Directors considered that the Article 15 of the recast RCD has not been interpreted by the CJEU and requested that the Council of State will submit questions for a preliminary ruling. The Council of State considered that there are no grounds for submitting questions to the CJEU.

The Council of State clarified that the national requirement according to which an asylum seeker can work for a maximum of 24 weeks per calendar year is not in line with the recast RCD. The case concerned appeals submitted by the employers of two asylum seekers whose working period would exceed the 24 weeks. The Council of State considered that the limitation of access to the labor market for 24 weeks within a period of 52 weeks is contrary to the objectives of the recast RCD. The Council of State based its conclusion on a report drawn for the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, which mentioned that the 24-week requirements prevent an effective access to the labor market. The Council of State reiterated that the recast RCD set as one of the minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers that Member States must provide effective access to the labor market in accordance with Article 15(2) of the recast RCD. As such, the 24-week requirement does not meet this minimum standard because no exception is enshrined in the RCD from the Member State's obligation to ensure that asylum seekers have effective access to the labour market.

The Council of State made a thorough analysis of the EU law and consulted the CJEU jurisprudence, including the judgments  K.S., M.H.K. v The International Protection Appeals Tribunal, The Minister for Justice and Equality, Ireland, The Attorney General, and R.A.T., D.S. v Minister for Justice and Equality, C-322/19 and C-385/19 , 14 January 2021 and IA v Federal Office for Foreign Affairs and Asylum, Austria, C-231/21, 31 March 2022.