appeals

the appeal procedure

The Algemene wet bestuursrecht (Awb) (General Administrative Law Act) has made the appeal procedure compulsory as a preliminary stage before going to the administrative court. Pursuant to this law, you may appeal the decision on your grant application by submitting a notice of appeal to the Fund’s board. The Fund has a permanent independent committee that advises the board on notices of appeal and the board takes that advice into account when it decides on your application again.

• who may lodge an appeal? An interested party may submit a notice of appeal to the Fund’s board. If you are the applicant, then you are automatically an interested party.
• what does the appeals committee consider? The appeals committee reviews the formal and procedural grounds of the Fund’s decision. The committee looks at whether the rules and procedures were followed correctly, whether the advisory committee formulated its advice carefully and the reasoning is comprehensible and whether the conclusions correspond to all those considerations.
• what does the appeals committee not consider? Please be aware that the appeals committee does not reassess the substance of your application. The documents that were submitted with the application are looked at to review the decision, so the appeal procedure is not meant for adding anything to or for going into more detail about an application. If you want to improve an application and submit it again, you can explore the possibilities for submitting a revised application.

period

The appeal must be submitted no later than six weeks after the written decision of the Fund’s board. The date on which the decision is made available to the applicant on the application platform, will count as the start date of the six-week appeal period. In principle, the Fund makes a decision on the notice of appeal within the maximum statutory decision period of twelve weeks, starting on the day after the submission period for the notice of appeal has expired.

submission

The notice of appeal may be sent signed, also digitally, by email to bezwaren@stimuleringsfonds.nl. It should be addressed to the Fund’s board and should in any case contain: the name and address of the appellant (the person submitting the appeal), the date, a description of the decision, the application number against which the appeal is directed and the grounds for the appeal.

the hearing

If you want, you may explain your appeal in person during a hearing. The secretariat of the appeals committee establishes a date for the hearing in consultation with the appellant, the Fund and the committee. The hearing committee consists of at least two members of the permanent appeals committee, and you will be notified of this in the invitation letter.

• preparation: The appeals committee’s secretariat collects the relevant data for the hearing, and you may add documents to the case file up to ten days before the hearing. The Fund writes a response to the notice of appeal prior to the hearing, which will be shared with you no later than ten days before the hearing.
• during the hearing: The hearing committee interviews the appellant and a Fund representative in each other’s presence. During the hearing, which takes about 45 minutes, the committee gives the appellant the opportunity to explain the appeal and it will also ask questions. The hearing is public, so you may bring someone with you for support, or you could ask a family member or a friend to assist you legally. If you want the person assisting you to speak or submit documents on your behalf, you need to complete a written authorisation. If a lawyer represents you, which is not compulsory, you will not need separate written authorisation for this, since a lawyer is already professionally authorised to represent you. You can read more about this on www.wetten.overheid.nl.
• audio recording: The secretary makes an audio recording (without visuals) of the hearing, which helps when writing the advice and deciding on the appeal. The chair will, at the beginning of the hearing, announce that a recording is going to be made. However, if somebody objects to this, the recording will not be made. If the decision on the appeal is recorded, you may ask for the recording. The recording will be kept for up to eight weeks after the decision on the appeal is made. Other parties are not permitted to make an audio or a visual recording, unless all parties give their explicit consent to this prior to the hearing. If requested, the person making the recording will share it with the secretary, who will pass it on the other parties. It is not permitted to share the recording to parties other than those present at the hearing.

the appeals committee's advice

The appeals committee will formulate advice for the board, including a summary of the positions of both the appellant and the Fund, based on both the file records and the hearing. The board decides on the appeal based on this advice, which will be sent to you along with the decision on the appeal.

the decision on an appeal

The board’s decision may be that the appeal is: declared inadmissible, declared unfounded, declared well-founded in part or declared well-founded.

If the board’s decision deviates from the appeals committee’s advice, then the board will motivate this with compelling reasons as to why. The period within which the decision has to be made is twelve weeks, calculated from the day after the submission period for the notice of appeal has expired. This decision period may be extended by six weeks.

the appeals committee

The appeals committee is appointed by the board, but issues independent advice to the Fund.

Members:
mr. G.A.J.A. Trapman (voorzitter)
mr. P.M. Bloemers
mr. C. Hakbijl
mr. L. Kembel
mw. A. Verstegen

Secretaries:
Annique Deneer
Chloë Neeleman
Maria van der Togt
Tibor Bijl

appeal to the District Court

If you do not agree with the decision on appeal, you may submit an appeal to the District Court within six weeks after the date on which the decision was sent. If you think you need preliminary relief, you may apply for this to the District Court as well. Please be aware that costs will be incurred when lodging an appeal and applying for preliminary relief. You can find more information on wetten.overheid.nl.

contact

For more information about the appeal procedure you can contact the appeals committee’s secretariat via bezwaren@stimuleringsfonds.nl.