Objection and appeal

We always recommend that the candidate and the institution agree in advance what they plan to do should this situation arise. There are two possible scenarios.

• The institution may decide to withdraw the candidate, at which time the application lapses. In that case, we do not issue the provisional decision and consequently there is no option for objection or appeal under the General Administrative Law Act (Algemene wet bestuursrecht – Awb). At the candidate’s request, we can arrange a feedback meeting at which we explain our findings and conclusions.
• The institution may decide, in consultation with the candidate, to proceed with the application. We then send both the institution and the candidate a substantiated provisional negative decision, after which they may submit a statement of views.

Statement of views

A statement of views is an oral or written response to a provisional decision. Both the institution and the candidate may submit a statement of views. We consider the arguments put forward in taking our final decision. The final decision is drawn up by the staff members who also carried out the assessment. If our final decision is still negative, the institution and the candidate have the option to file an objection and subsequently lodge an appeal and a further appeal.

Objection

An objection is a confidential non-public internal procedure. The objection is handled by staff members from a different DNB division who are not involved in the decision-making process, taking the requirements of the General Administrative Law Act into account. We will then issue a new decision.

Appeal and further appeal

If the negative decision is upheld in the objection procedure, the candidate and the institution may lodge an appeal in court. Subsequently it is also possible to lodge a further appeal with the Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal. In principle, a further appeal is a public procedure, and we recommend that candidates seek legal representation in this procedure.