Czech Republic - Prague District Court, V.P. v Ministry of Interior, no. 10 A 155/2017

Procedural aspects of statelessness determination should be the same as in the asylum application procedure, as the SPD procedure is not specified in national law. This means that the deadline for issuing a decision on statelessness is 6 months with the possibility of extension.

Case name (in original language)
V.P. proti Ministerstvu vnitra
Case status
Decided
Case number
10 A 155/2017
Date of decision
Court / UN Treaty Body
Prague District Court
Language(s) the decision is available in
Czech
Applicant's country of birth
Russian Federation
Applicant's country of residence
Czech Republic
Relevant Legislative Provisions
  • 1954 Statelessness Convention
  • Czech Asylum Law n. 325/1999
Decision & Reasoning

As the Ministry of the Interior had been inactive for more than a year without notifying the applicant about an extension of the deadline (6 months according to the asylum procedure), the Court noted the Ministry of the Interior' inaction regarding the stateless determination procedure and ordered the Ministry of the Interior to act. The court also stated that applicants in the statelessness determination procedure should have a legal status during the procedure.

Outcome

The Court ordered the Ministry of the Interior to take action. After this decision, the Ministry initiated a statelessness determination procedure in relation to all the applicants.