both at national and international level. More specifically as regards the Committee's recommendation pursuant to rule 108 of its rules of procedure, it was physically impossible for the Government to have known on 13 January 1997, the day on which the deportation order was issued and put into effect, of the request for a stay of execution made by the Committee in its letter of 13 January 1997, that letter having been received the following day at the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations in Geneva, as attested by the stamp placed on the said document when it arrived. It was therefore impossible for the request to be taken into consideration before the execution of the measure. 7.4 The deportation measure was implemented on 13 January 1997 since on that date the author had paid the sum he owed to the Treasury following his court conviction and there was then no reason, bearing in mind the threat that his presence would represent for public order after his release, to defer a decision to call for and proceed with his deportation. Although the author claims that it was physically impossible for him to enter an appeal, he offers no proof of this, and he certainly does not deny that the notice of the deportation order, which he refused to sign, included information about the procedures and time-limits for an appeal. Comments by the author 8.1 The author states that when he was notified of the deportation order and of the decision indicating Spain as the country of destination, he was prevented by the authorities from communicating with his wife and counsel. Furthermore, when the latter asked the authorities for news about the author, no information was given to them. Thus, contrary to the State party's contention, it was made impossible for the author, after notification of the deportation order and before its execution, to apply for a remedy, to be brought before a person capable of receiving such an application or to communicate with persons who could have acted in his place. 8.2 The author indicates that the applications made to the administrative court of Limoges were referred, on 27 July 1998, for consideration by the administrative court of Pau, which rendered its judgement on 4 February 1999. The judgement states that while at the time of its submission the request was premature, the issuance of the orders of 13 January 1997 calling for the deportation of Mr. Arkauz and his return to Spain had the effect of regularizing the request. The court also found the handing over of the author to the Spanish security forces to be illegal and therefore annulled that measure. However, an appeal to a French administrative court has no suspensive effect and the administrative court of Pau did not reach a decision on the author's request until two years after the actual implementation of the deportation order. The finding of the author's surrender to be illegal therefore has only a symbolic effect in the circumstances of the present case. 8.3 Concerning the Committee's request for the suspension of the deportation order, the author reiterates the arguments he had put forward in that connection.f State party's observations on the merits 9.1 The State party notes that, on his arrival in France, the author was given temporary permits to stay as an asylum seeker but the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) and the Refugee Appeals Board rejected his asylum request in 1981. Thereafter, he neither reapplied for refugee status, as he could have done, nor looked for another country prepared to accept him, although his situation was irregular and he knew that he might be subject to an enforceable measure of banishment. In 1992 he was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, a ten-year prohibition on residence and a three-year ban from French f See paras. 5.2 and 5.3. 84