In a judgment delivered on Thursday 20 May (Case C-8/20), the Court of Justice of the European Union clarified the notion of subsequent asylum application, as described in the Directive (2013/32) on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection.
An Iranian national is challenging the German courts’ rejection of his asylum application as inadmissible on the grounds that it would constitute a ‘subsequent application’ within the meaning of the so-called ‘Procedures’ Directive. A few years ago, he lodged an application in Norway - a third country which participates in the European asylum system by implementing provisions of the ‘Dublin III’ Regulation (604/2013), which establishes criteria for determining the state responsible for examining an asylum application.
According to the Court, the existence of a previous decision of a third country rejecting an application for refugee status does not allow an application for international protection, submitted by the affected person to a Member State after the adoption of the previous decision, to be considered as a ‘subsequent application’.
The Court adds that the existence of an agreement between the European Union, Iceland and Norway on migration issues is irrelevant. Indeed, while Norway implements provisions of the ‘Dublin III’ Regulation under this agreement, this is not the case for provisions of the ‘Procedures’ Directive or the ‘Qualification’ Directive (2011/95). which set out the conditions for being able to benefit from international protection.
Therefore, in a situation like the one in question, the Member State to which a migrant has submitted a new application for international protection may, if necessary, ask Norway to take charge of the person affected. However, where such a takeover is not possible or does not take place, the Member State concerned is not entitled to consider the new application as a ‘subsequent application’, allowing it to be declared inadmissible where appropriate.
See the judgment: https://bit.ly/3v4ytki (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)