Article 47 - Right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial
Key facts of the case:
Reference for a preliminary ruling – Immigration policy – Directive (EU) 2016/801 – Conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of studies – Article 20(2)(f) – Application for admission to the territory of a Member State for the purposes of studies – Other purposes – Refusal of a visa – Grounds for rejection of the application – Failure to transpose – General principle that abusive practices are prohibited – Article 34(5) – Procedural autonomy of the Member States – Fundamental right to an effective judicial remedy – Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
Outcome of the case:
On those grounds, the Court (Fifth Chamber) hereby rules:
1. Directive (EU) 2016/801 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of research, studies, training, voluntary service, pupil exchange schemes or educational projects and au pairing, in particular having regard to Article 3(3) of that directive,
must be interpreted as not precluding a Member State, where it has not transposed Article 20(2)(f) of that directive, from refusing an application for admission to its territory for study purposes on the ground that the third-country national has made that application without having a genuine intention of studying on the territory of that Member State, in accordance with the general principle of EU law prohibiting abusive practices.
2. Article 34(5) of Directive 2016/801, read in the light of Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
must be interpreted as not precluding an action against a decision taken by the competent authorities rejecting an application for admission to the territory of a Member State for study purposes from consisting exclusively of an action for annulment, without the court hearing that action having the power to substitute, where appropriate, its own assessment for that of the competent authorities or to adopt a new decision, provided that the conditions under which that action is brought and, where appropriate, the judgment adopted at the end of that action, are such as to enable a new decision to be adopted within a short period of time, in line with the assessment contained in the judgment annulling the decision, in such a way that a sufficiently diligent third-country national is able to benefit from the full effectiveness of the rights which he or she derives from Directive 2016/801.
59. By its third question, the referring court asks, in essence, whether Article 34(5) of Directive 2016/801, read in the light of Article 47 of the Charter, must be interpreted as precluding an action against a decision taken by the competent authorities rejecting an application for admission to the territory of a Member State for study purposes from consisting solely in an action for annulment, without the court hearing that action having the power, where appropriate, to substitute its own assessment for that of the competent authorities or to adopt a new decision.
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62. In that regard, it should be recalled that the characteristics of the appeal procedure envisaged in Article 34(5) of Directive 2016/801 must be determined in a manner that is consistent with Article 47 of the Charter (judgment of 10 March 2021, Konsul Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej w N., C‑949/19, EU:C:2021:186, paragraph 44).
63. The right to an effective remedy, enshrined in Article 47 of the Charter, would be illusory if the legal order of a Member State allowed a final, binding judicial decision to remain ineffective to the detriment of one party (see, to that effect, judgment of 19 December 2019, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, C‑752/18, EU:C:2019:1114, paragraphs 35 and 36). That is particularly true where obtaining the actual benefit of the rights deriving from EU law, as recognised by a judicial decision, requires compliance with time constraints.
64. Thus, where a national administrative decision is at issue, which, in order to ensure observance of the actual benefit of the rights of the person concerned under EU law, must be adopted quickly, it is apparent from the need, arising from Article 47 of the Charter, to ensure that the action brought against the initial administrative decision rejecting that application is effective that each Member State must order its national law in such a way that, in the event of its annulment, a new decision is adopted within a short period of time and that it complies with the assessment contained in the judgment annulling that decision (see, by analogy, judgment of 29 July 2019, Torubarov, C‑556/17, EU:C:2019:626, paragraph 59 and the case-law cited).
65. It follows that, as regards applications for admission to the territory of a Member State for the purposes of studies, the fact that the court seised has jurisdiction only to rule on the annulment of the decision of the competent authorities rejecting such an application, without being able to substitute its own assessment for that of those authorities or adopt a new decision, is sufficient, in principle, to satisfy the requirements of Article 47 of the Charter, provided that, as the case may be, those authorities are bound by the assessment contained in the judgment annulling that decision.
67. In the light of all the foregoing considerations, the answer to the third question is that Article 34(5) of that directive, read in the light of Article 47 of the Charter, must be interpreted as not precluding an action against a decision taken by the competent authorities rejecting an application for admission to the territory of a Member State for study purposes from consisting exclusively of an action for annulment, without the court hearing that action having the power to substitute, where appropriate, its own assessment for that of the competent authorities or to adopt a new decision, provided that the conditions under which that action is brought and, where appropriate, the judgment adopted at the end of that action, are such as to enable a new decision to be adopted within a short period of time, in line with the assessment contained in the judgment annulling the decision, in such a way that a sufficiently diligent third-country national is able to benefit from the full effectiveness of the rights which he or she derives from Directive 2016/801.
