CJEU Joined Cases C-323/21, C-324/21, C-325/21 / Judgement

Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid v B. and F, K. v Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid
Deciding body type
Court of Justice of the European Union
Deciding body
Court (First Chamber)
Type
Decision
Decision date
12/01/2023
ECLI (European case law identifier)
ECLI:EU:C:2023:4
  • CJEU Joined Cases C-323/21, C-324/21, C-325/21 / Judgement

    Key facts of the case:

    References for a preliminary ruling – Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 – Determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection – Lodging of multiple applications for international protection in three Member States – Article 29 – Time limit for transfer – Expiry – Transfer of responsibility for examining the application – Article 27 – Remedy – Scope of judicial review – Possibility for the applicant to rely on the transfer of responsibility for examining the application

    Outcome of the case:

    On those grounds, the Court (First Chamber) hereby rules:

    1. Cases C‑323/21, C‑324/21 and C‑325/21 are joined for the purposes of the judgment.

    2. Articles 23 and 29 of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person

    must be interpreted as meaning that, where a time limit for the transfer of a third-country national between a requested Member State and a first requesting Member State has started to run, responsibility for examining the application for international protection lodged by that person is transferred to that requesting Member State by reason of the expiry of that time limit, even though that person, in the meantime, lodged a new application for international protection in a third Member State, which led to the acceptance by the requested Member State of a take back request made by that third Member State, provided that that responsibility has not been transferred to that third Member State by reason of the expiry of one of the time limits provided for in Article 23.

    Following such a transfer of responsibility, the Member State in which that person is present cannot transfer him or her to a Member State other than the newly responsible Member State, but it may, however, within the time limits laid down in Article 23(2) of that regulation, submit a take back request to the latter Member State.

    3. Article 27(1) of Regulation No 604/2013, read in the light of recital 19 of that regulation, and Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union must be interpreted as meaning that a third-country national who has lodged an application for international protection successively in three Member States must be able, in the third of those Member States, to have available an effective and rapid remedy which enables him or her to rely on the fact that responsibility for examining his or her application was transferred, by reason of the expiry of the time limit for transfer provided for in Article 29(1) and (2) of that regulation, to the second of those Member States.

  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter

    3 Recitals 4, 5 and 19 of the Dublin III Regulation state:

    ...

    (19) In order to guarantee effective protection of the rights of the persons concerned, legal safeguards and the right to an effective remedy in respect of decisions regarding transfers to the Member State responsible should be established, in accordance, in particular, with Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. In order to ensure that international law is respected, an effective remedy against such decisions should cover both the examination of the application of this Regulation and of the legal and factual situation in the Member State to which the applicant is transferred.

    ...

    92 Furthermore, the Court has held that, in the light (i) of the objective, referred to in recital 19 of the Dublin III Regulation, of guaranteeing, in accordance with Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, effective protection of the persons concerned, and (ii) of the objective of determining rapidly the Member State responsible for processing an application for international protection set out in recital 5 of that regulation, the applicant must have available an effective and rapid remedy which enables him or her to rely on circumstances subsequent to the adoption of the transfer decision, where taking those circumstances into account is decisive for the correct application of the regulation (judgment of 15 April 2021, État belge (Circumstances subsequent to a transfer decision), C‑194/19, EU:C:2021:270, paragraph 35 and the case-law cited).

    ...

    96 Consequently, the answer to the second question in Cases C‑323/21 and C‑325/21 is that Article 27(1) of the Dublin III Regulation, read in the light of recital 19 of that regulation, and Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights must be interpreted as meaning that a third-country national who has lodged an application for international protection successively in three Member States must be able, in the third of those Member States, to have available an effective and rapid remedy which enables him or her to rely on the fact that responsibility for examining his or her application was transferred, by reason of the expiry of the time limit for transfer provided for in Article 29(1) and (2) of that regulation, to the second of those Member States.

    ...

    On those grounds, the Court (First Chamber) hereby rules:

    ...

    (3) Article 27(1) of Regulation No 604/2013, read in the light of recital 19 of that regulation, and Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union must be interpreted as meaning that a third-country national who has lodged an application for international protection successively in three Member States must be able, in the third of those Member States, to have available an effective and rapid remedy which enables him or her to rely on the fact that responsibility for examining his or her application was transferred, by reason of the expiry of the time limit for transfer provided for in Article 29(1) and (2) of that regulation, to the second of those Member States.

  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter (original language)