Service of a NAG decision: personal delivery, deposit, defective service and the start of the four-week appeal period.
For an adverse NAG decision, appeal work begins not with the date printed on the first page but with effective service. Section 7(4) VwGVG generally links the four-week appeal period to service of the decision. Looking only at the issue date or the day the envelope was collected can therefore produce the wrong starting point.
Service may be personal, made on an authorised recipient, electronic or effected by deposit. A deposited document generally counts as served on the first day of the collection period. Proven absence can postpone that effect. If service was defective, section 7 ZustG may make actual receipt the decisive event.
Review the full service sequence: envelope, return receipt, deposit notice, electronic service record, tracking, travel evidence and actual receipt. The issue date shows when the decision was made. It does not prove when the appeal period began for the party.
This article focuses on service and the start of time. The substantive analysis is covered in appealing a NAG refusal. The evidential basis can be reviewed through file inspection.
The check distinguishes delivery, deposit, absence and cure of defective service. Every result can be submitted with the relevant service context.
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For an effective deposit, section 17(3) ZustG generally treats the document as served on the first day of the collection period. A later physical collection does not by itself move the start date.
If absence from the address prevented timely knowledge, the exception in section 17(3) ZustG applies. The return date and the remaining collection period determine the possible later effective date.
Order dispatch, attempted delivery, deposit, first collection day, absence, return and actual collection. The legally relevant date can only be assessed from that sequence.
Under section 7 ZustG, defective service becomes effective when the document actually reaches the recipient. Actual receipt of the document matters, not mere awareness that a decision exists.
A photograph of individual pages or oral information is not automatically actual receipt of the complete document. The service file, recipient and transmission route need review.
Where an old address or wrong recipient is involved, the service direction, notified address and any authority to receive service are central. A change of address during known proceedings must be notified promptly under section 8 ZustG.
Section 7(4) VwGVG generally sets four weeks for an appeal against a decision. First determine effective service. Then assess the end date, weekends, public holidays and a provable filing route.
The service date answers the timing question but not whether the decision is lawful. The reasons, evaluation of evidence and supporting records must be analysed separately.
A legal aid application made within the appeal period can affect the further running of time under section 8a(7) VwGVG. The date of service and filing of the application therefore need reliable proof.
The issue date records when the decision was approved or produced. It does not automatically start the appeal period. Section 7(4)(1) VwGVG looks to service on the appellant.
The day on which someone first hears about the decision is not necessarily service either. The statutory service process or a cure by actual receipt is required. Informal messages and photographs should not be equated prematurely with receipt of the document.
The appeal glossary entry explains the remedy. The service file provides the starting date.
For personal delivery, the documented handover date is normally the starting point. If a validly authorised recipient receives service, delivery to that person is decisive. Authority, service direction and receipt belong together.
Electronic service produces its own records. Availability notice, retrieval, signature and system confirmation should be retained. A forwarded PDF shows content but may not establish the original service event.
A second transmission does not automatically create a new period. Section 6 ZustG provides that serving the same document again has no legal effect once it was already served. Earlier effective service must therefore be checked first.
Section 17 ZustG permits deposit where delivery at the address is not possible and regular presence can be assumed. The notice must identify the place, beginning and duration of collection and explain the effect.
The document must be available for at least two weeks. It generally counts as served on the first collection day. Collection several days later does not itself postpone service.
The deposit notice is important evidence. Its loss or removal does not automatically invalidate an otherwise effective deposit under section 17(4). The statutory conditions remain decisive.
Section 17(3) contains an important exception. If absence prevented timely knowledge, the document initially does not count as served. A return during the collection period can make service effective on the following day on which collection is possible.
Not every absence suffices. The person must have been away in a way that prevented timely knowledge. Holiday, hospital stay or business travel can matter but duration and connection to the address need evidence.
Build a timeline of last presence, attempted delivery, first collection day, return and end of collection. The appeal checklist connects those records with the decision.
Under section 7 ZustG, a defect is cured when the document actually reaches the recipient. Actual receipt is required. Mere awareness of the outcome or information from a third party is not automatically enough.
Whether an emailed PDF, a copy or a later handover amounts to actual receipt depends on the full event. Content, completeness, recipient and availability need to be established.
A defect should therefore be described concretely. Record what went wrong and when the complete decision became available. That produces the possible cured service date.
A party who changes its address during known proceedings must notify the authority promptly under section 8 ZustG. If notification is omitted and a new address cannot be found without difficulty, deposit without a prior delivery attempt may become relevant.
Where authority to receive service exists, review when it was granted, its scope and whether it was revoked. General representation and authority to receive service may differ. The service direction shows to whom delivery was ordered.
Registration records, the message to the authority, acknowledgement and the power of attorney should be reviewed together. A later assertion of a new address does not show what the authority knew at the time.
Section 7(4) VwGVG generally sets four weeks for the appeal. Exact calculation starts after effective service is fixed. General time-computation rules and an end date on a non-working day then need consideration.
A correct calculation also needs a safe filing route. The decision and notice on remedies identify the filing point. Postal, personal or electronic filing should produce suitable proof of receipt or dispatch.
The documents and deadlines topic page helps keep service, decision, evidence and filing as distinct parts of the chronology.
Service may decide admissibility and timeliness but not whether the refusal was substantively unlawful. The decisive reasons and file material require separate review.
File inspection under section 17 AVG can show which evidence was used. Keep service records in their own part of the appeal file so that timing arguments remain distinct from the merits.
If legal aid is being considered, read the legal aid guide. A timely request has its own statutory effect on time.
No. Effective service generally starts the appeal period. The printed issue date does not prove service.
The document generally counts as served on the first collection day. Proven absence may produce another effective date under section 17(3) ZustG.
Section 7 ZustG cures a defect when the document actually reaches the recipient. The event of actual receipt needs concrete evidence.
Section 7(4) VwGVG generally provides four weeks. Exact calculation depends on effective service and general time rules.
The complete decision, envelope, receipt or deposit notice, electronic records, tracking and evidence of any absence.