Refugee Act, 1996 (Appeals) Regulations, 2000

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 342/2000
• Year: 2000

I, John O'Donoghue, T.D., Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 23 of the Refugee Act, 1996 (No. 17 of 1996) as adapted by the Justice (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order, 1997 ( S.I. No. 298 of 1997 ), hereby make the following Regulations:
PART 1 General
	Citation and commencement	1.(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Refugee Act, 1996 (Appeals) Regulations, 2000.
(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on 20 November 2000.
	Interpretation	2.(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, “the Act” means the Refugee Act, 1996 (No. 17 of 1996) as amended by the Immigration Act, 1999 (No. 22 of 1999) and the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act, 2000 (No. 29 of 2000).
(2) In these Regulations—
(a) a reference to a Regulation or Schedule is a reference to a Regulation or a Schedule to these Regulations, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other Regulation or Schedule is intended, and
(b) a reference to a paragraph or a subparagraph is a reference to a paragraph or subparagraph of the Regulation or Schedule in which the reference occurs unless it is indicated that a reference to some other Regulation or Schedule is intended.
	Business of the Tribunal	3. The Tribunal shall, in arranging its business, have regard to the desirability of disposing of appeals with due expedition consistent with fairness and natural justice.
	Withdrawal of appeal	4. Where an appeal is withdrawn pursuant to section 16(9) of the Act, the Tribunal shall notify the Minister and the Commissioner of the withdrawal.
	Decisions	5. A decision of the Tribunal under section 16(2)(a), (b), (c) or (d) of the Act shall be in the form set out in the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Schedules respectively or a form to the like effect.
	Corrections	6.(1) The Tribunal may correct any error or omission in any decision made by the Tribunal under the Act.
(2) A correction made under paragraph (1) shall be notified to the applicant and his or her legal representative (if known), the Commissioner, the Minister and the High Commissioner.
	Notices etc.	7.(1) All notices, representations in writing or documents required or authorised by these Regulations to be sent or given to the Tribunal shall be deemed to have been duly sent or given if sent by registered post and directed to the Chairperson, Refugee Appeals Tribunal, Dublin.
(2) Where a notice is required or authorised by these Regulations to be served on or given to a person, it shall be addressed to him or her and shall be served on or given to him or her in some one of the following ways:
(a) where it is addressed to him or her by name, by delivering it to him or her, or
(b) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter, or by any other form of recorded delivery service prescribed by the Minister, addressed to him or her at the address most recently furnished by him or her to the Commissioner, in the case of his or her legal representative, if any, at his or her address, or in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address.
(3) Where a notice under these regulations has been sent to a person in accordance with subparagraph (2)(b), the notice shall be deemed to have been duly served on or given to the person on the third working day after the day on which it was so sent.
PART 2 Appeal against recommendation that applicant should not be granted refugee status
	Interpretation (Part 2)	8. In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires, “an appeal” means an appeal under section 16 of the Act against a recommendation of the Commissioner under section 13 of the Act.
	Form of appeal	9. (1) An appeal shall be in the form set out in Part 1 of the First Schedule to these Regulations.
(2) The Tribunal shall fix a time and date for an oral hearing and shall, not less than 7 working days before such date, send notice of the time and date for the oral hearing to the applicant and his or her legal representative, if known, and a copy of the notice shall be sent to the Commissioner, and the notice shall include the names of any witness directed by the Tribunal to attend the oral hearing.
(3)(a) Where the notice of appeal includes a request to the Tribunal to direct the attendance of a witness before the Tribunal, the Tribunal shall in respect of each such witness determine whether he or she should in accordance with section 16(11) of the Act be directed to attend before the Tribunal.
(b) In making a determination under subparagraph (a), the Tribunal shall have regard to the nature and purpose of the evidence proposed to be given by the witness as indicated in the notice of appeal.
(c) Where the Tribunal determines that a witness should attend before it, it shall direct the witness to attend in accordance with section 16(11) of the Act.
(d) A witness directed to attend a hearing under paragraph (c) shall be present at the oral hearing only for the duration of his or her evidence.
	Conduct of oral hearing	10. In conducting an oral hearing the Tribunal shall—
(a) ensure that the applicant and the Commissioner, and their legal representatives if any, and the High Commissioner, if present, are informed of the order of proceedings which the Tribunal proposes to adopt;
(b) conduct the oral hearing as informally as is practicable, and consistent with fairness and transparency;
(c) decide the order of appearance of the applicant and the Commissioner and any witnesses;
(d) ensure that the oral hearing proceeds with due expedition; and
(e) allow for the questioning of the applicant, witnesses and the Commissioner.
	Hearing cases together	11. In the case of an oral hearing where it appears to the Tribunal that in two or more appeal cases—
(a) some common matter arises in both or all of them;
(b) they relate to members of the same family; or
(c) the Tribunal otherwise considers it reasonable and just that the appeals should be heard together,
the Tribunal may, subject to the agreement of the applicants concerned and the Commissioner, hear the appeals together.
	Adjournment of oral hearing	12. Where the Tribunal is satisfied that a hearing of the Tribunal should be adjourned in the interest of justice, the Tribunal may adjourn the hearing to a specified date.
	Failure to attend oral hearing	13. Where the applicant fails to attend an oral hearing or a resumed oral hearing, the Tribunal shall treat his or her case as one to which section 16(2A) of the Act applies unless the applicant, where he or she has not already done so, within 3 working days after the date of the oral hearing or resumed oral hearing, as the case may be, furnishes the Tribunal with an explanation which satisfies the Tribunal that he or she had reasonable cause for not attending.
PART 3 Appeal against recommendation that application is manifestly unfounded
	Form of appeal	14. An appeal under section 16 of the Act against a recommendation of the Commissioner under section 12 (manifestly unfounded applications) of the Act shall be in the form set out in Part 2 in the First Schedule to these Regulations.
FIRST SCHEDULE
Part 1
(Form 1)
Refugee Appeals Tribunal
NOTICE OF APPEAL
against a recommendation of the Refugee Applications Commissioner made under section 13(3)(b) of the Refugee Act 1996
1. Personal details:
1.1 Name:
1.2 Address:
Note: Correspondence relating to your appeal will be sent to the address which you are required to furnish to the Refugee Applications Commissioner under section 9 (4A) of the Refugee Act 1996 unless you put down on this form a different address for service of notices for the purposes of your appeal before the Refugee Appeals Tribunal or indicate that you wish all correspondence to be sent to your solicitor. You must also inform the Tribunal of any change of address to any address provided here. Your attention is drawn to Regulation 7 of the Refugee Act 1996 (Appeals) Regulations 2000.
1.3 Nationality:
1.4 Temporary Residence Certificate number:
1.5 R.S.I. Number:
1.6 Telephone number (if any):
1.7 Supplementary Welfare Payment Centre:
2. Legal Representation:
2.1 Do you have legal representation? Yes No (delete as appropriate)
If yes, please complete the following:
2.2 Name of your legal representative:
2.3 His or her address:
2.4 His or her telephone number:
2.5 His or her fax number:
If you instruct a legal representative at a later stage you should inform the Refugee Appeals Tribunal of this immediately and provide details as in this section of the form.
3. Grounds of Appeal
Please state clearly and concisely the grounds on which you are seeking to appeal the recommendation of the Refugee Applications Commissioner. You may use additional or separate pages, if necessary but, if so, both you and your legal representative, if any, should sign the bottom of each additional page.
The grounds of the appeal should indicate—
(a) to what extent (if any) you contend that the recommendation of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, a copy of which has been provided to you, erred in fact;
(b) to what extent (if any) you contend that the recommendation of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, a copy of which has been provided to you, erred in the application of the relevant law;
(c) any additional information.
All grounds of appeal and documentation (see section 5 below) on which you intend to rely must accompany this notice of appeal. If you are submitting information which was not available to the Refugee Applications Commissioner, you must state why this was so and also the precise relevance of this information to your case.
Ground 1:______________________________________________________________________________________
Ground...