CJEU judgment in Case C-179/11, CIMADE, GISTI v. Ministre de l’Intérieur, de l’Outre-mer, des Collectivités territoriales et de l’Immigration, 27/09/2012

Date: 
Friday, October 4, 2013

(Applications for asylum – Directive 2003/9/EC – Minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers in the Member States – Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 – Obligation to guarantee asylum seekers minimum reception conditions during the procedure of taking charge or taking back by the responsible Member State – Determining the Member State obliged to assume the financial burden of the minimum conditions)

Referred questions:
1. By its first question, the referring court asks, in essence, whether a Member State to which an application for asylum has been made at its border or in its territory, is also obliged to grant the minimum reception conditions for reception of asylum seekers laid down in Directive 2003/9 to an asylum seeker in respect of whom it decides, under Regulation No 343/2003, to call upon another Member State, as the Member State responsible for examining his application for asylum, to take charge of or take back the person concerned. (paragraph 36 of the judgment)


2.  By its second question, the referring court seeks to ascertain, first, when the obligation on a Member State in receipt of an application for asylum to grant the minimum reception conditions laid down in Directive 2003/09 to an asylum seeker ceases, with regard to an asylum seeker in respect of whom it decides, under Regulation No 343/2003, to call upon another Member State, as the Member State responsible for examining his application for asylum, to take charge of or take back that applicant; second, it wishes to know which Member State should assume the financial burden of providing those minimum conditions. (paragraph 51 of the judgment).

The Court ruled that:

1.Council Directive 2003/9/EC of 27 January 2003 laying down minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers in the Member States must be interpreted as meaning that a Member State in receipt of an application for asylum is obliged to grant the minimum conditions for reception of asylum seekers laid down in Directive 2003/9 even to an asylum seeker in respect of whom it decides, under Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 of 18 February 2003 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national, to call upon another Member State, as the Member State responsible for examining his application for asylum, to take charge of or take back that applicant.

The Court stated that the obligation on the Member State in receipt of an asylum claim to grant those minimum reception conditions begins when the applicant ‘applies for asylum’, even if that State is not the Member State responsible for the examination of the application for asylum pursuant to the criteria laid down by the Dublin II Regulation. Directive 2003/9 provides for only one category of asylum seekers, encompassing all third-country nationals and stateless persons who apply for asylum. Accordingly, those minimum reception conditions must be granted not only to asylum seekers present in the territory of the responsible Member State, but also to those who remain pending the determination of the responsible Member State, a procedure which can last for a number of months (paragraph 43). The Court also noted that the obligation on a Member State in receipt of an asylum claim to grant the minimum reception conditions applies only to those asylum seekers who are allowed to remain in the territory of the Member State concerned as asylum seekers. In that regard, the Court considered that European Union law allows asylum seekers to remain not only in the territory of the State in which the application for asylum is being examined but also, until the actual transfer of the persons concerned, in the territory of the Member State in which that application was lodged (paragraphs 47-48).

2.The obligation on a Member State in receipt of an application for asylum to grant the minimum reception conditions laid down in Directive 2003/9 to an asylum seeker in respect of whom it decides, under Regulation No 343/2003, to call upon another Member State, as the Member State responsible for examining his application for asylum, to take charge of or take back that applicant, ceases when that same applicant is actually transferred by the requesting Member State, and the financial burden of granting those minimum conditions is to be assumed by that requesting Member State, which is subject to that obligation.

The Court stated in that regard that only the actual transfer of the asylum seeker by the requesting Member State brings to an end both the procedure before that State and its liability to bear the financial burden of the reception conditions (paragraph 55). The Court noted that the minimum reception conditions can be reduced or withdrawn in situations, listed in the directive, where the asylum seeker does not comply with the reception rules laid down by the Member State concerned (for example, where the person concerned fails to appear for personal interviews at which his claim is to be examined)(paragraph 57).

For the full text of the case please visit: CJEU: CURIA: Case C-179/11, CIMADE, GISTI v. Ministre de l’Intérieur, de l’Outre-mer, des Collectivités territoriales et de l’Immigration


For the press release on the judgment please visit: CJEU: Press Room: The minimum conditions for the reception of asylum seekers must be granted by the Member State in receipt of an application for asylum even when it calls upon another Member State which it considers to be responsible for the examination of the application


This item was reproduced with the permission of ECRE from the weekly ELENA legal update supported by the Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Funding Programme and distributed by email. The purpose of these updates is to inform asylum lawyers and legal organizations supporting asylum seekers and refugees of recent developments in the field of asylum law. Please note that the information provided is taken from publicly available information on the internet. Every reasonable effort is made to make the content accurate and up to date at the time each item is published but no responsibility for its accuracy and correctness, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by ECRE, the IRC or its partners.

                                                     

 

Keywords: 
Dublin Transfer
Reception conditions
Tags: 
CJEU