CJEU: C-652/16 Ahmedbekova - Request for a preliminary ruling from the Administrative Court of Sofia (Bulgaria), lodged on 19 December 2016

Date: 
Monday, December 19, 2016

The Bulgarian Administrative Court of Sofia has referred preliminary questions to the CJEU in case C-652/16 Ahmedbekova concerning the interpretation of Article 4 of the recast Qualification Directive (rQD) and the assessment of applications for international protection of family members, in cases where those applications are based on the same facts. More specifically, it is asked whether national case-law obliging the responsible authority to assess applications lodged by members of the same family in a joint procedure is permissible under Article 4 rQD.

Furthermore, the Administrative Court asks whether it follows from Article 10 of the Qualification Directive that the bringing of a complaint before the European Court of Human Rights against the State of origin of the applicant establishes their membership of a particular social group, or constitutes a political opinion. The CJEU is also asked whether Article 46(3) of the recast Procedures Directive obliges the national courts to examine the substance of new grounds for international protection which have been put forward in the course of the judicial proceedings but which were not relied on in the action brought against the decision refusing international protection.

 


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Keywords: 
Assessment of facts and circumstances
Membership of a particular social group
Political Opinion