Stages of processing an appeal

1. The bringing of the case

The Supreme Administrative Court registry records the application for leave to appeal and appeal in its electronic case management system.

2. Preliminary work and preparation

The Chamber Secretariat is responsible for the preliminary preparation of cases brought before the court and assists the judicial personnel with case management and other procedural matters. The Chamber Secretariat reviews the documents submitted in the case and, where necessary, requests further information, additional grounds and clarifications from the interested party and the public authority that made the decision.

Following the preliminary preparation, the case is referred to a referendary, appointed in accordance with the Supreme Administrative Court’s division of labour, for preparation.

Once the case has been assigned to a referendary, they assess its urgency and the necessary processing and preparatory steps. In addition to the facts of the case, the referendary examines the legal sources relevant to the resolution of the matter such as national legislation and its preamble (legislative drafting materials), any applicable provisions of EU law and international agreements, case law and the views expressed in the legal literature.

After familiarising themselves with the case, the referendary draws up a reasoned written proposal for a decision in the case or for other action. A panel comprising the members and the referendary decides the case at a meeting following a presentation by the referendary.

3. Processing in a session

Before the session, the referendary distributes to the decision-making panel a list of the matters to be discussed in the session. ‘Decision-making panel’ is the term used to describe a board (group) comprising the members (justices) of the court and the referendary.

The session is chaired by the president, chair of the chamber or the most senior member. Prior to the session, the member of the decision-making panel responsible for reviewing the case examines in particular detail all the court documents and the draft decision prepared by the referendary. The members of the Supreme Administrative Court take turns acting as the reviewing member.

In the session, the referendary presents the case and the reviewing member takes the floor first after the presentation. Following the presentation, the panel discusses the case and the members state their views in order of seniority, with the chair of the session stating their view last.

If necessary, a vote is taken on the decision. If a vote is taken to decide the case, or if the referendary submits a dissenting opinion, the statement of vote or dissenting opinion is attached to the decision. ‘Statement of vote’ means a statement made by one or more members that differs from the majority view. A dissenting opinion is an opinion of the referendary in the case that differs from that of the decision-making panel. A note is made in the decision about any vote taken and any dissenting opinion.

Processing an application for leave to appeal

Most cases brought before the Supreme Administrative Court require an application for leave to appeal to be made to the Supreme Administrative Court. The Supreme Administrative Court examines all applications for leave to appeal in detail, and assesses whether the conditions laid down by law for granting leave to appeal are met.

Applications for leave to appeal are heard by a panel of two or three members. In the session, the panel decides, on the basis of all the documentation gathered in the case, whether to grant leave to appeal and rule on the case subject to appeal.

Applications for leave to appeal may be decided without a written hearing of the parties if leave to appeal is not granted.

The panel may also decide to hear the parties before deciding on the application for leave to appeal. A hearing means that the Supreme Administrative Court request a statement or explanation from the authority that made the decision, to which the interested parties are asked to provide a reply or rejoinder.

The fact that the Supreme Administrative Court hears the parties when deciding on an application for leave to appeal does not automatically mean that the Supreme Administrative Court will grant leave to appeal in the case. Following the hearing, leave to appeal is either granted or rejected.

The case is always referred to a five-member panel for consideration if leave to appeal is granted and a decision is made on the appeal.

If leave to appeal is not granted, a decision is always issued regarding the rejection of the application. In such cases, a decision to reject leave to appeal may be justified simply by citing the relevant legal provisions, unless the nature of the case requires further justification.

If leave to appeal is not granted, the hearing of the case before the Supreme Administrative Court ends and the Supreme Administrative Court does not issue a decision in the case. The decision of the administrative court in the case then becomes final.

If the Supreme Administrative Court grants leave to appeal, the appeal is usually decided in the same session at which the leave to appeal is granted. Only in exceptional cases will the Supreme Administrative Court issue a separate decision granting leave to appeal before deciding on the main case. This approach has mainly been taken in certain wide-ranging city planning matters.

Cases that do not require leave to appeal

Appeals that do not require leave to appeal (so-called direct appeals) are prepared by the Chamber Secretariat in such a way that the parties are heard before the case is referred to a referendary for preparation. The case may be decided without giving the interested party an opportunity to be heard if the appeal is dismissed outright, if it is manifestly unfounded or if the need to ensure fair proceedings does not otherwise require a hearing.

In other respects, cases are prepared in the same way as those requiring leave to appeal. The referendary draws up a reasoned proposal for a decision, and the matter is presented in a session. These cases are always dealt with by a panel of at least five members.

Injunction against or suspension of enforcement

An appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court does not, in principle, prevent the enforcement of a decision in a case where leave to appeal is required. However, whilst a case is pending, the Supreme Administrative Court may issue an injunction against the enforcement of the decision, order that enforcement be suspended or issue another order concerning the enforcement of the decision. An enforcement order may also be directed at a part of the decision.

Any request to issue an injunction against enforcement or some other interim order must be specified and justified in the appeal or in a separate application.

If the main case is heard by the Supreme Administrative Court, a request to issue an injunction against or suspend enforcement must be lodged with the Supreme Administrative Court registry.

If the Supreme Administrative Court orders an injunction against enforcement, an interim decision to that effect is sent to the appellant. In addition, the Supreme Administrative Court will send the necessary copies of the decision to the enforcement and registration authorities.

If no injunction is issued against enforcement, no separate interim order is usually issued in such cases.

Decision-making panel

Legal matters are heard and decided by the Supreme Administrative Court in a panel consisting of judges and a referendary or in a plenary session.  Before the Supreme Administrative Court, cases may be heard by panels of varying composition, comprising the referendary and different numbers of members.

• A decision to reject leave to appeal may be taken by a panel comprising three members and a referendary.
• A three-member panel may also decide to dismiss the case and decide on extraordinary appeals. 
• A panel of two members may decide to reject an application for leave to appeal concerning international protection (asylum).
• A single-member panel may rule on a request for an injunction against or suspension of enforcement.
• A five-member panel may either reject leave to appeal or grant leave to appeal and decide on the appeal.
• Cases involving important matters of principle may be decided at a chamber session (chamber plenum) or, in exceptional cases, at a plenary session comprising all members of the Supreme Administrative Court (plenum).
• In certain environmental and water-related matters, two environmental counsellors attend the meeting in addition to the members and, in patent matters, two senior engineering counsellors attend.

5. Decision

A decision in a judicial matter is made in a session following a presentation and deliberation.

A draft decision prepared in advance may be adopted and the decision signed during the session. Otherwise, the referendary draws up a draft decision for consideration on the basis of the discussion held in the session. If necessary, one or more decision meetings will be held in the case, focusing primarily on refining the grounds for the decision. 

The decision is signed by the referendary and the members who took part in the decision-making process.

A decision of the Supreme Administrative Court is final and cannot be appealed to any other court. Under certain conditions, it is possible to apply to the Supreme Administrative Court to have a final decision annulled.

Structure of the decision

A decision of the Supreme Administrative Court’s sets out the ruling in the case and the grounds for it.

A Supreme Administrative Court ruling is written at the start of the decision. First, the claims that are not examined are stated. This is followed by a decisions on requests for a preliminary ruling, requests for an oral hearing and requests for an inspection. These are followed by the decision in the main case and, finally, rulings on the claims for reimbursement of legal costs and enforcement.

The decision then sets out the background to the case as described by the Supreme Administrative Court and provides a concise summary of the parties’ claims. The following sets out the grounds for the decision, proceeding from the issues raised to the applicable legal guidelines, the assessment and the conclusions.

The grounds for the decision set out the relevant legal provisions, the factors and information that influenced the decision and the legal reasoning on which the decision is based.

In addition to the information provided above, the decision, which is published as a precedent, includes the keywords, a brief summary of the case and the legal guidelines applied. The summary sets out the legal issue on which the decision is based, together with, where necessary, further details of the case and the grounds for the decision.

The keywords provide a headline-style summary of the case’s content, enabling the user to draw general conclusions about the case’s content based on the keywords alone. The keywords progress from general concepts to specific details.

Outcomes of a decision

Below is a list of some of the outcomes of decisions in main cases by the Supreme Administrative Court in appeal cases, given by way of example. In the examples listed, the Supreme Administrative Court granted leave to appeal and examined the appeal against the lower court’s decision.

This list is not exhaustive; rather, it is intended to highlight some of the most common outcomes.

• Appeal rejected. No amendment.
  • This means that the Supreme Administrative Court is not overturning a decision made by an administrative court or the Market Court.
• Appeal rejected. The outcome of the decision is not being amended.
  • This means that the Supreme Administrative Court is not overturning a decision made by an administrative court or the Market Court, but is amending the grounds for the ruling.
• Amended.
  • This means that the Supreme Administrative Court is amending the outcome of a decision made by an administrative court, the Market Court or a public authority in some way.
• Annulled.
  • This usually means that the Supreme Administrative Court annuls a decision by an administrative court or the Market Court and upholds the decision made by the public authority in the case.  However, the Supreme Administrative Court may also annul the decision made by the public authority in the case.
• Annulled and returned.
  • This means that the Supreme Administrative Court annuls a decision by an administrative court or the Market Court, as well as the decision by the public authority, and returns the case to the authority for reconsideration. In some cases, the Supreme Administrative Court may also return the case to the administrative court or Market Court for reconsideration.
• Appeal not considered.
  • The Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the appeal because it was not lodged within the prescribed time limit, because the appellant did not have the right of appeal or because the nature of the case meant that it was not possible to appeal under the law.
• Appeal lapses.
  • Lapsing usually means that the appellant withdraws their appeal. 

6. Service of a decision and other distribution

The Supreme Administrative Court always issues its decision in writing.

The decision is served to the parties without delay after it is issued. The date on which the decision is issued is the date from which it is available to the interested parties.

The Chamber Secretariat is responsible for serving decisions and other documents.

The Chamber Secretary sends the decision to the appellants and a copy of the decision to the other parties.The decision is sent to the interested parties at the address they have provided, either via the electronic case management system, by email or by post.

Publication of a decision on the website and on Finlex

A small proportion of decisions issued by the Supreme Administrative Court are published on the court’s own website and on Finlex. The decision on publication is taken by the panel that decided on the case.

A precedent may be published if it is a decision reached by a panel of at least five members, which is significant for the application of the law in other similar cases or is otherwise of legal significance.

The panel may also decide to publish a decision deemed to be a public interest or otherwise significant, even if it is not a precedent.

A decision to be published on the website is sent to the interested parties at 8.00 a.m. on the day it is issued and is published on the website at 9.00 a.m. As a general rule, the Supreme Administrative Court does not give advance notice of the dates on which it issues its decisions.

Read all decisions published by the Supreme Administrative Court on Finlex.