The Romanian applicant had been informed on behalf of the Minister that his application for refugee status was manifestly unfounded. There was, however, no provision for finding a claim manifestly unfounded under the von Arnim procedure that was in force at the time of Mr. Dascalu’s application. The von Arnim procedure had since been replaced by the Hope Hanlon procedure that provided for a finding that an application was manifestly unfounded.
The court held that the Minister was entitled to change procedures and was entitled to do so in respect of applications that had been made under the old procedures but that the Minister was required to inform the applicant individually that his application was now being dealt with under new procedures that provided for the possibility of finding the claim to be manifestly unfounded. The applicant was granted judicial review because it was held that the Minister for Justice was at fault in not notifying the applicant individually of this fact.
