CJEU: Request for a preliminary ruling from the German Administrative Court of Minden relating to the Dublin Regulation

Date: 
Thursday, December 22, 2016

The German Administrative Court of Minden has referred a request for a preliminary ruling to the CJEU on the interpretation of Article 21(1) of Dublin III Regulation in a case that concerns the transfer to Italy under the Dublin III Regulation.
 
The following questions are submitted to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling in the accelerated procedure under Article 105 of the Court’s procedural rules:
 

1. Is an asylum seeker permitted to claim for the transfer of responsibility to the requesting Member State by reason of the time limit for the status of the application for admission having expired (Article 21(1)(3) of Regulation 604/2013 (“the Regulation”))?

2. If question one is answered in the affirmative: Is an asylum seeker equally permitted to claim for the transfer of responsibility, if the requested Member State continues to be prepared to receive him?

3. If question two is answered in the negative: Is it possible to conclude from the express or rather fictitious approval (Article 22(7) of the Regulation) of the requested Member State that they may continue to be prepared to receive the asylum seeker?

4. Is it possible for the two-month period under Article 21(1)(2) of the Regulation to end after the three-month period under Article 21(1)(1) of the Regulation, if the requesting Member State lets more than a month pass after the beginning of the three month period before making enquiries of the EURODAC database?

5. Is an application for international protection deemed to have been validly made by the issuing of a certificate stating the person is an asylum seeker or only by the recording of a formal application for asylum within the meaning of Article 20(2) of the Regulation? In particular:

a. Is a certificate stating the person is an asylum seeker a form or a record within the meaning of Article 20(2)?

b. Is the responsible authority within the meaning of Article 20(2), the authority that is responsible for receiving the form or creating the record or is it the authority that is responsible for taking a decision in respect of the application for asylum?

c. Has such a record been received by the responsible authority where the substantial content of the form or the record has been communicated or is it required that the original record or a copy of the record is transmitted?

6. Is it possible for delays between the first asylum request or rather the first issuing of a certificate stating the person is an asylum seeker and the status of an application for admission to lead to a transfer of responsibility to the requesting Member State as per Article 21(1)(3) of the Regulation or to oblige the requesting Member State to make use of the sovereignty clause as per Article 17(1)(1) of the Regulation?

7. If question 6 is answered in the affirmative with respect to one of the alternatives: After which period of time is there an unreasonable delay in the status of an application for admission?

8. If, in an application for admission, the requesting Member State only states the date of the entry into that state as well as the date of the formal application for asylum being made but the requesting Member State does not state the date of the first request for asylum or rather the date of the first issuing of a certificate stating the person is an asylum seeker: does this preserve the period as per Article 21(1)(1) of the Regulation or is such an application “ineffective”?

The ELENA Weekly Legal Update would like to thank Christian Freuling for his translation.



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Keywords: 
Dublin Transfer
Effective access to procedures
Procedural guarantees