The determination of statelessness 129 full legal capacity or particular difficulties.44 A third option only allows the person concerned to initiate the procedure, while placing an obligation on immigration, asylum and/or naturalization authorities to provide information about the system, the possibility of applying for stateless status and the rights that can be acquired in this way to any person whose potential statelessness arises in any of these procedures.45 Beyond the ‘who’, the ‘how’ question is also essential. Bureaucratic difficulties (such as complicated applications that can only be completed in written form, in the country’s official language) can encumber, or even impede access to determination mechanisms. The protection-oriented framework requires a flexible interpretation of such rules, as in the case of Hungary, where claims for stateless status can be submitted both in written and oral form and in any language.46 Moreover, claims submitted to any state authority should be forwarded to the competent regional directorate of the immigration authority.47 Similarly in Spain, claims can be entered at immigration offices, police stations or the asylum authority.48 The reverse is true in the French practice, where such claims are only received if written in the French language and only at one single place in the country (the headquarters of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides – OFPRA).49 Beyond the evident difficulties regarding communication and distance one should not forget that the circle of advisors (NGOs, lawyers, etc.) trained on statelessness and active in supporting stateless people is still extremely limited, even in the industrialized world (as compared in particular to the fields of asylum, immigration or naturalization). Th is 44 45 46 47 48 49 See, for example, Report of the Hungarian Parliamentary Commissioner for Civil Rights on cases no. AJB 2629/2010 and AJB 4196/2010, September 2010, as well as Gyulai, ‘Statelessness in Hungary’, 43–5. Hungary applies this approach, see Government Decree 114/2007. (V. 24) on the execution of Act II of 2007 on the Admission and Right of Residence of Third-Country Nationals (170/2001. (IX. 26.) Korm. rendelet a kü lföldiek beutaz ásá ról és tartózkodásá ról szóló 2001. évi XXXIX. törvény végrehajtásáról), s. 160(1). Government Decree 114/2007. (V. 24) on the execution of Act II of 2007 on the Admission and Right of Residence of Th ird-Country Nationals, s. 159(1). Act CXL of 2004 on the general rules of administrative procedures and services (2004. évi CXL. törvény a közigazgatási hatósági eljá rás és szolgá ltatás á ltalá nos szabá lyairól), s. 22(2). Royal Decree 865/2001 of 20 July approving the Regulation for the Recognition of the Status of Stateless Persons, s. 2(3). While, for example, asylum claims can be submitted at any préfecture (local representation of the national government) all over the country. 9781107032446c05_p116-143.indd 129 6/16/2014 3:12:02 PM