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Refugee Protection Appeals Tribunal (RPAT)

Process and Guidelines

Filing of Notice of Appeal Sections 111 (6) and 114 (1) of the Act

1. Notice of Appeal for asylum matters may be sent via post addressed to Secretary, Refugee Protection Appeals Tribunal, Box 105, Government Administration Building, KY1-9000 or delivered directly to the Government Administration Building and placed in the drop box located in the reception area or scanned and sent via email to RPAT@GOV.KY . The filing of notice of appeal must be received by RPAT within 14 days of the communication of the decision. IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Customs and Border Control Act does not give the Chair of the Tribunal the discretion to allow Notices of Appeal to be filed out of time, accordingly, asylum appeals filed outside of the 14 days will not be accepted.

2. In accordance with Section 114 (1) of the Customs and Border Control Act (“the Act") the appeal documentation should consist of:

i. The NOTICE OF APPEAL addressed to the Secretary of RPAT and setting out the decision against which the appeal is made, (whilst not a statutory requirement, the notice MUST be dated and MUST include contact numbers and preferably email addresses. The Secretariat will primarily correspond with appellants via email, if appellants do not have email addresses they will be contacted via their contact number to collect correspondence in person.

ii. A COPY OF THE APPELLANT’S ORIGINAL APPLICATION for asylum to the Director of Customs and Border Control (“Director”); and

iii. A COPY OF THE REFUSAL LETTER from the Director.

Appeal Statements and Grounds Sections 114 (4) and (5) of the Act

3. Following receipt of the complete notice of appeal documentation (refer to 2 above) the Appeals Tribunal Secretariat will request the Director to provide to RPAT and the appellant THE REASONS FOR HIS DECISION. The Director is under a statutory duty to respond within a reasonable period.

4. Within 14 days from receipt, of the Director’s reasons (normally sent via email unless the appellant instructs another method of collection), the appellant must file DETAILED GROUNDS OF APPEALS with RPAT and serve a copy thereof on the Director.

Filing – Written Defence Section 114 (6) of the Act

5. The Director may (but is not obliged to), provide a written defence which must be filed with RPAT and served on the appellant within 14 days of his receipt of the grounds of appeal.

Late Filing – Grounds and Defence Section 114 (8) of the Act

6. The period within which detailed grounds of appeal and the Director’s written defence can be filed maybe extended at the discretion of the Chairman of RPAT upon request of the appellant or the Director (as the case may be) for good reason shown in writing.

Hearing of the Appeal Section 114 (9) and (10) of the Act

7. RPAT will review all of the documents received from the appellant and the Director in the process of deciding whether the appellant’s case has merit.

8. The Appeals Tribunal Secretariat will send out a hearing notification to the appellant and the Director advising them of the date and time of the hearing, this will include instructions which advise appellants to provide notification of any representative(s) that will be accompanying them and a timeline for submission of supporting documentation ahead of the hearing date.

9. The appellant and the Director or designate are required to be attendance at the hearing if either party is not available to attend on the date, the hearing is to be re-scheduled for other date and time that is convenient to all.

Decisions of RPAT Section 114 (12) of the Act

10. RPAT shall provide the appellant with a decision within 7 days of the conclusion of the hearing of the appeal.

Right of Appeal against the Decision of RPAT Section 115 of the Act

11. An appeal may be made to the Grand Court from a decision of RPAT on a point of law only.

Last Updated 2023-01-16