Case summaries

Serbia, by refusing to issue the refugee applicant a travel document due to the absence of appropriate regulations, breached Article 2 § 2 of Protocol No. 4 of the ECHR

Even in the absence of a formal complaint, the repeated notifications of trafficking elements to authorities and broader awareness of migrant worker abuse reported in international resources (ECRI, GRETA reports) triggered a duty to investigate. However, the Government failed to show any effective investigation took place: no attempts were made to identify or question victims or alleged perpetrators, nor were legal-assistance mechanisms used to gather evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Court unanimously found a violation of Article 4 § 2 under its procedural limb.

The Court decides that the maximum period of detention for the purpose of removal of a person on the grounds of public policy or public security under Belgian law, according to which Union citizens and their family members are treated in the same way as third-country nationals subject to a return procedure, exceeds the principle of proportionality and thus does not comply with EU law.

The administrative detention of an Afghan national was imposed on the basis of a procedural error due  to the lack of relevant documentation and unjustified information by the French authorities (Prefect and Prosecutor).

The CJEU clarified that the Schengen Border Code must be interpreted as not allowing Member States to equate an external border with an internal border at which controls have been reintroduced. So, the Return Directive’s exceptions for third-country national who crossed external borders do not apply to someone in the applicant’s position.

A national measure requiring private coach transporters crossing internal borders to check the documents of the passengers on board and refuse the access to those not provided with passport or residence permit is prohibited under Article 21(a) of Regulation No 562/2006 (Schengen Borders Code) as it has an effect equivalent to that of border checks.

The Court annulled the no. 10464/31.05.2017 Decision of the Director of the Asylum Service, on the basis of which, the restriction on the movement of applicants for international protection entering the Greek islands of Lesvos, Rhodes, Samos, Kos, Leros and Chios after the 20th of March 2016, was imposed. Furthermore, the Court ruled that the competent authority may not impose the contentious restriction on movement to applicants for international protection arriving in the Greek islands after the date of the publication of the judgment.

Usually it does not infringe the constitutional right of equality nor the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, when the residence permit of a disabled foreign national is restricted on grounds of a lack of independent secured livelihood pursuant to §§ 25 (5) 1, 12 (2) 2 German Residence Act.

Objective criteria to define a ‘risk of absconding’ must be established in a binding provision of general application. In the absence of that, Article 28(2) of the Dublin III Regulation is inapplicable and detention on this ground must be declared unlawful. The existence of case-law confirming a consistent administrative practice by domestic law-enforcement authorities does not suffice to conform to Article 28 of the Dublin III Regulation.

If an Applicant, whilst his asylum application is being processed, is held in a limited area, this may be in contravention of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”). In determining this, the Court may take into account all of the circumstances of the case, in particular the nature, period and effect of the holding of the Applicant and how the holding of the Applicant is enforced.