In January 2019, the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD) launched an initiative to render a decision on its oldest appeals, those filed in 2017, by June 2019.
As part of the initiative, the RAD will take advantage of its recent digitizing efforts to assign a scanned, electronic version of the appeal to a member in any IRB office instead of the office that received the appeal. If the assigned member determines that a hearing is necessary, appropriate arrangements will be made via video-conference or in person. The registry that received the appeal remains responsible for the paper version as the official record. Any correspondence should continue to be sent to the office that originally received the appeal.
As in all appeals, the member will decide the appeal on the basis of the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) record and submissions received from the parties; the appellant's record, the respondent's record (if filed) and the RAD hearing (if required).
As a matter of practice, members keep informed of current country conditions by familiarizing themselves with the latest version of the
National Documentation Package (NDP). If a member decides that there is current information in the NDP that is relevant to the determination of the appeal, it is RAD practice for the member to disclose the information to the parties and invite submissions to be received within a reasonable period of time.