Introduction

The appellant may withdraw the appeal until the appellate authority (second instance) issues a final decision. However, the withdrawal of the appeal will not be accepted if it would result in the upholding of an administrative decision that violates the law or the public interest.

Provisions

• Articles 63, 137, and 138(1)(3) of the Act of June 14, 1960—Code of Administrative Procedure. 
  

Detailed Explanation

An appeal against a decision is filed with a higher-level authority through the authority that issued the decision. The first-instance authority may grant the appeal and issue a new decision through self-review. If it does not do so, it forwards the appeal along with the case file to the appellate authority for consideration.

A party may withdraw the appeal if they do not wish for the case to be reconsidered by the appellate authority. To do so, they must submit an unambiguous statement of withdrawal. This may be done until the conclusion of the appellate proceedings.

The statement of withdrawal must be submitted in the manner prescribed for applications addressed to public administrative authorities. For example, if the statement is in paper form, it may be delivered to the authority’s office in person by the applicant or via a postal service provider. If the statement is in electronic form, it may be submitted to the appellate authority’s electronic service address. 

Once the statement of withdrawal of the appeal has been filed, further proceedings by the second-instance authority become moot, as there is no current claim by the party, leading to the issuance of a decision to discontinue the appeal proceedings. Exceptions are cases where discontinuing the proceedings would result in a decision by the first-instance authority that violates the law or the public interest remaining in force.

The legal effect of issuing a decision to discontinue the appeal proceedings is that the decision issued by the first-instance authority remains in force. It becomes final and may be challenged only through extraordinary remedies (see: Remedies).