When the Exception Becomes the Rule: The Action for the Protection of Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees after Uniform Ruling No. 11/2024

Abstract

This study critically examines Supreme Administrative Court Ruling no. 11/2024, which held that the action for the protection of rights, freedoms and guarantees is the appropriate procedural remedy to challenge administrative inaction in residence permit applications. Starting from the exceptional and subsidiary nature of this remedy under Article 109 of the Code of Procedure before Administrative Courts, the article analyses its structural requirements: a concretely defined fundamental right, qualified urgency, and the impossibility or insufficiency of interim relief. It argues that the ruling broadens the scope of this urgent procedure, weakens the subsidiarity requirement, and blurs the distinction between the right to a decision and the right to the substantive content of the administrative act. The study also addresses the systemic impact of the massive use of this remedy, as reflected in the significant number of pending cases, as well as the implications of Article 87-B of Law no. 23/2007. It concludes that transforming an exceptional procedural mechanism into a general response to administrative delay undermines the coherence of the procedural framework and disturbs the institutional balance between courts and public administration.