also plays a role in maintaining the applicant's silence. It is therefore accepted that applicants were afraid to present the reasons which led them to leave their country in an earlier stage’.522 However, in most cases, the Asylum Service incorrectly interprets the concept of new and substantial elements according to GCR findings and dismisses relevant subsequent applications as inadmissible. If the preliminary examination concludes on the existence of new elements “which affect the assessment of the application for international protection”, the subsequent application is considered admissible and examined on the merits. The applicant is issued a new “asylum seeker’s card” in that case. If no such elements are identified, the subsequent application is deemed inadmissible.523 Until a final decision is taken on the preliminary examination, all pending measures of deportation or removal of applicants who have lodged a subsequent asylum application are suspended.524 Exceptionally, under the Asylum Code, ‘the right to remain on the territory is not guaranteed to applicants who (a) make a first subsequent application which is deemed inadmissible, solely to delay or frustrate removal, or (b) make a second subsequent application after a final decision dismissing or rejecting the first subsequent application’.525 Any new submission of an identical subsequent application is dismissed as inadmissible.526 Until the completion of this preliminary procedure, applicants are not provided with proper documentation and have no access to the rights attached to asylum seeker status or protection. The asylum seeker’s card is provided after a positive decision on admissibility. An appeal against the decision rejecting a subsequent application as inadmissible can be lodged before the Independent Appeals Committees under the Appeals Authority within 5 days of its notification to the applicant.527 Second and every following subsequent application Since September 2021, each subsequent application after the first one is subject to a fee amounting to €100 per application.528 This amount may be revised through a Joint Ministerial decision. A Joint Ministerial Decision of the Ministers of Migration and Asylum and of Finance, entered into force on 1 January 2022, determining various issues concerning the implementation of the statutory provision (definitions, payment procedure, reimbursement of unduly paid fees etc.).529 In the intervening time between the legislative change and the issuance of the JMD – between September 2021 and 1 January 2022 – the competent authorities refused to register second subsequent applications or more. However, one month after the JMD, they resumed the registration of such applications. Since September 2021, Lesvos RAO, amongst other RAOs, had informally suspended the registration process of second subsequent applications or more in violation of the principle of legal certainty and in violation of Article 6(1) of Directive 2013/32/ΕU. As a result, those applicants who had their first subsequent application rejected were unable to submit a new subsequent application and remained in legal limbo and an extremely precarious situation. They had been living in inhuman and degrading conditions for several months given that they were deprived of access to healthcare and financial benefits after the final rejection 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 Greek Asylum Case Law Report, available at https://bit.ly/3Nxgexp, 48. Article 94(4) of Asylum Code. Article 94(9) of Asylum Code. Article 94(9) of Asylum Code. Article 94(7) of Asylum Code. Article 97(1d) of Asylum Code. Article 94(10) of Asylum Code. Joint Ministerial Decision 472/ 21.12.2021, Gazette 6246/ B/ 27.12.2021 entered into force on 01 January 2022. 123