Belgium: Belgian Council for Alien Law Litigation has referred preliminary questions to CJEU on application and interpretation Article 25(1) Visa Code and has referred question to the Constitutional Court

Date: 
Thursday, December 8, 2016

The Belgian Council for Alien Law Litigation has referred the following questions to the Court of Justice on the application and interpretation to be given to Article 25(1) of the Visa Code:

  1. Do  “international obligations” as specified in Article 25(1) (a) of the Visa Code, concern the set of rights guaranteed under the EU Charter, in particular those guaranteed under Articles 4 and 18, and do they also cover the obligations under the ECHR and Article 33 Refugee Convention, which the Member States are bound by?
  2. A. In view of the answer to question 1, is Article 25(1)(a) of the Visa Code to be interpreted in the sense that, subject to the margin of appreciation the Member State has in the case,  that the requested visa Member State, is obliged to issue the requested visa where a violation of Article 4 and/or 18 Charter rights or another international obligation is proven?
    B. Does the existence of ties between the person requesting the visa and the requested Member State (for example family links, host families, sponsors etc) have any consequence on the answer to this question?
The Council for Alien Law Litigation also referred a question to the Constitutional Court:

Does Article 39/82 para 1 and 4 of the Law of 15 December 1980 violate Articles 10, 11 and 13 of the Constitution read either in conjunction or not in conjunction with Article 47 of the Charter in so far as the suspension request for ‘extremely urgent necessity’ can only be introduced by third country nationals who are subject to a return decision or refoulement where the execution is imminent and not by third country nationals who are the subject of another act of the administrative authority which is susceptible to being annulled by virtue of Article 39/2 para 2 of the 1980 Law.
 
Based on an unofficial translation by the ELENA Weekly Legal Update.
 
The ELENA Weekly Legal Update would like to thank the ELENA national coordinator for Belgium, Tristan Wibault, for providing us with this information.
 
Please see EDAL case summary for more information, available here.



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Keywords: 
Inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
Non-refoulement
Visa