7.6.5. Individuals must be notified in writing of the decision to deprive nationality and of the reasons underlying the decision. This must be done so in a prompt manner and in a language that they understand. 7.6.6. Decisions on the deprivation of nationality must be open to effective judicial review and appeal to a court, in compliance with the right to a fair trial. 7.6.7. No person whose nationality has been withdrawn shall be deprived of the opportunity to enter and remain in that country in order to participate in person in legal proceedings related to that decision. 118. The Tunis Conclusions state that “procedural safeguards are essential to prevent abuse of the law and are “derived from the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality .207 Procedural safeguards to avoid arbitrary deprivation of nationality are necessary regardless of whether the withdrawal of nationality would result in statelessness or not.208 As detailed in the Commentary to Principle 3.2 above, the prohibition on arbitrary deprivation of nationality is included in different international and regional instruments. 119. While a number of international treaties refer to due process obligations in the context of criminal trials, it has been established that these apply to other types of disputes as well. Thus, ‘criminal charges’ under Article of the ICCPR “may also extend to acts that are criminal in nature with sanctions that, regardless of their qualification in domestic law, must be regarded as penal because of their purpose, character or severity 209 and, at regional level, Article 6 ECHR for instance also applies to disciplinary and other proceedings.210 These interpretations regarding the severity of the penalty imposed correspond with the recommendations set out in the Tunis Conclusions that deprivation of nationality should only occur following a two-step process, logically beginning with a finding of guilt by a criminal court. A decision by the competent authority (preferably a court) on deprivation of nationality would follow.211 207 UNHCR, ’Tunis Conclusions‘ , para . UNHRC Guidelines No 5 (2020), para 97. Human Rights Committee, ‘General Comment No. : Article : Right to equality before courts and tribunals and to a fair trial’ CCPR/C/GC/32, para 15. 210 ECtHR, Marusic v Croatia (2017), Application no. 79821/12, para 72-73. 211 UNHCR, ’Tunis Conclusions‘ , para . 208 209 62