The penalty for late decision is the sum an administrative body owes an applicant when it exceeds the statutory decision period and then lets a further two weeks pass after receiving a written notice of default.
Legal basis
The regime is contained in Articles 4:17 to 4:20 of the General Administrative Law Act. The penalty runs from the day after two weeks have elapsed following receipt of the notice of default, for a maximum of 42 days: 23 euros a day for the first fourteen days, 35 euros a day for the next fourteen and 45 euros a day for the last fourteen. The maximum is therefore 1,442 euros. Article 4:17(6) excludes the penalty where the body was given notice unreasonably late, where the applicant is not an interested party, or where the application is manifestly inadmissible or manifestly unfounded. Article 6:12 additionally allows a direct appeal against a failure to decide.
How it works in practice
The notice of default is not subject to formal requirements but must make clear that the body is in default and that the penalty is being claimed. Send it demonstrably, and only once the decision period has genuinely expired; a premature notice has no effect. Afterwards the body determines the penalty due by decision, within two weeks. If it fails to do so, that too can be challenged. The penalty is an incentive rather than compensation: anyone suffering real loss must pursue a separate route.
Where it goes wrong
Most claims founder on the question of which decision period applied, particularly where it was lawfully extended or suspended because the application was incomplete. A second stumbling block is the notice of default sent too early. Third, the regime does not apply to every procedure: asylum applications are excluded.
Related terms
This penalty is separate from the order subject to a penalty, which is an enforcement instrument of the administration, and connects to the appeal against a failure to decide.
Have you been waiting months for a decision? Our administrative law specialists serve the notice of default and monitor what follows.
