Based on legal aid organizations’ observations, including GCR, in practice, the Asylum Service did not issue nor notify applicants of their admissibility decisions. As a result, many applicants received an invitation to a personal interview for the in-merits assessment of their asylum claim before RAOs without prior information on the admissibility decision and the next step of the procedure, thus not being able to prepare for the interview. On the other hand, in Lesvos, Kos and Chios, applicants from Syria and Afghanistan who had an admissibility interview and their applications were found admissible did not have an in merits interview; instead, their asylum applications were examined on the basis of their administrative file and, in general, were accepted, without undergoing an asylum interview on the merits. In practice, the Asylum Service notified applicants directly of their positive decisions with reference to their admissibility decisions. In 2023, the issue of the use of outdated sources in a number of decisions for cases especially concerning the examination of the safe third country concept vis-a-vis Türkiye still remains. For instance, the decisions refer inter alia to the 2019 and 2020 updates of the AIDA country report on Türkiye, to other reports published in 2017 and 2018, and to letters sent by the Permanent Delegation of Türkiye to the European Commission and by the European Commission to the Greek General Secretary of Migration Policy in April and May 2016 in the context of the EU-Turkey Statement.501 3.3. Appeal Indicators: Admissibility Procedure: Appeal Same as regular procedure 1. Does the law provide for an appeal against an inadmissibility decision? Yes No v If yes, is it Judicial Administrative v If yes, is it automatically suspensive Yes Some grounds No According to the Asylum Code, the deadlines for appealing an inadmissibility decision, the automatic suspensive effect of appeals and the format of the Committee examining them depend on the inadmissibility ground invoked in the first instance decision under the regular procedure:502 Time limits and automatic suspensive effect: Appeals against inadmissibility Ground Deadline (days) Suspensive Format Protection in another EU Member State 20 × Single judge Dublin 15 √ Single judge First country of asylum 20 × Collegial Safe third country 20 √ Collegial Subsequent application with no new elements 5 × Single judge Application by a dependent 20 √ Single judge The Appeals Committee must decide on the appeal within 20 days, as opposed to 30 days in the regular procedure.503 Appeals Committees do not apply Art. 38(4) of the Procedures Directive with regard to applications having been rejected as inadmissible on the basis of the safe third Country concept vis-à-vis Türkiye, despite the fact that readmissions to Türkiye have been suspended since March 2020. It is only in a limited number of cases that the Appeals Committees have proceeded to an in-merits examination of the application, 501 502 503 As evidenced by decisions received by GCR’s beneficiaries. See also PROASYL & RSA, The Concept of “Safe Third Country”: Legal Standards & Implementation in the Greek Asylum System, February 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/rh6cte8t, p. 10. Article 97(d). It should be noted that the deadline for appealing against decisions issued under the provision of Article 95 Asylum Code (border procedure) is 10 days. Article 101 (d) L4636/2019, as amended by Article 25 (d) L4686/2020. 106