How long does it take to process a case?
- Cases in which leave to appeal is not granted are processed by the Supreme Administrative Court in less than six months on average.
- In cases where leave to appeal is granted, the processing time is about one year on average.
The Supreme Administrative Court endeavours to process cases in the order in which they are filed. However, certain matters, such as appeals concerning child welfare, the dismissal of a civil servant or the involuntary treatment of a patient are dealt with as a matter of urgency.
The processing time for an individual case may be longer or shorter than the average. The time taken to process a case may be influenced, among other things, by the nature of the case such as its legal complexity and scope, the large number of parties involved in the interview process, any links to other pending appeal cases, the general workload of the relevant case group and the Supreme Administrative Court, and whether the matter is one that must be dealt with as a matter of urgency under the law.
More detailed statistics on the average processing times for different categories of cases can be found on the Finnish Courts’ website.
The statistics section of the Supreme Administrative Courts annual report contains more detailed information on the average processing times of resolved cases by main case category.