Interim relief is the urgent measure by which the provisional relief judge of the district court can suspend a decision or make another temporary order while an objection or appeal is pending. It is intended for situations in which the outcome of the main proceedings cannot be awaited.
Legal basis
Article 8:81 of the General Administrative Law Act confers the power. The conditions are that an objection or appeal has been lodged or is available, and that immediate urgency, having regard to the interests involved, requires a measure. Article 8:83(4) allows a ruling without a hearing where the case is clear. Article 8:86 provides for short-circuiting: the judge may decide the appeal itself at the hearing of the application, provided the parties have been warned. In Dutch administrative law an objection or appeal does not in principle suspend the operation of a decision, which is precisely why this procedure exists.
How it works in practice
The judge assesses urgency, forms a provisional view on lawfulness and then weighs the interests. Irreversible consequences weigh heavily: a tree that will be felled, a building that will be demolished, a closure that will finish a business. Where an enforcement decision includes a compliance period, the application is usually filed shortly after the decision is taken, so that the period does not expire unused.
Where it goes wrong
The most common ground for refusal is the absence of urgency: financial loss that can be compensated later is usually not urgent enough. A second error is filing the application without a simultaneous objection or appeal, which makes it inadmissible. Third, applicants underestimate short-circuiting: if the judge decides the appeal immediately, there is no second opportunity to supplement the file.
Related terms
Interim relief is connected to the notice of objection and the appeal, and is the administrative counterpart of preliminary relief proceedings in civil matters.
Is a deadline running after which matters become irreversible? Our administrative lawyers file the application the same day.
