38 M.S.S. v. BELGIUM AND GREECE JUDGMENT registered per day, while up to 2,000 people are waiting outside to complete various formalities. This results in a very long wait before obtaining an appointment for a first interview. 181. Because of the clearly insufficient provision for interpretation, the first interview is often held in a language the asylum-seeker does not understand. The interviews are superficial and limited in substance to asking the asylum-seeker why he came to Greece, with no questions at all about the situation in his country of origin. Further, in the absence of any legal aid the applicants cannot afford a legal adviser and are very seldom accompanied by a lawyer. 182. As to access to the Court, although any asylum-seeker can, in theory, lodge an application with the Court and request the application of Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, it appears that the shortcomings mentioned above are so considerable that access to the Court for asylum-seekers is almost impossible. This would explain the small number of applications the Court receives from asylum-seekers and the small number of requests it receives for interim measures against Greece. 2. Procedure for examining asylum applications 183. The above-listed reports also denounce the deficiencies in the procedure for examining asylum applications. 184. In the vast majority of cases the applications are rejected at first instance because they are considered to have been lodged for economic reasons. Research carried out by the UNHCR in 2010 reveals that out of 202 decisions taken at first instance, 201 were negative and worded in a stereotyped manner with no reference whatsoever to information about the countries of origin, no explanation of the facts on which the decision was based and no legal reasoning. 185. The reports denounce the lack of training, qualifications and/or competence of the police officers responsible for examining the asylum applications. In 2008, according to the UNHCR, only 11 of the 65 officers at the Attica police headquarters responsible for examining asylum applications were specialists in asylum matters. 186. According to several accounts, it was not unusual for the decision rejecting the application and indicating the time-limit for appeal to be notified in a document written in Greek at the time of issue or renewal of the “pink card”. As the cards were renewed every six months, the asylumseekers did not understand that their applications had in fact been rejected and that they had the right to appeal. If they failed to do so within the prescribed deadline, however, they were excluded from the procedure, found themselves in an illegal situation and faced the risk of being arrested and placed in detention pending their expulsion. 187. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and the UNHCR also emphasised that the notification procedure for “persons with