The applicant submitted an appeal on points of law against a judgement of the High Administrative Court and claimed procedural violations because the lower court took a decision without an oral hearing, and his right to be heard was allegedly infringed. The applicant based his appeal on article 6 ECHR and 47 of the EU Charter.

The Federal Administrative Court rejected the appeal and found that the implementation of the simplified appeal procedure was not wrong. The applicant was granted international protection in Italy and the BAMF has rejected his application in Germany, ordering his return. He contested the decision and the BAMF considered that there were no impediments to the transfer because the applicant as a young, healthy and employable recognised beneficiary of protection was highly likely to be able to secure a minimum level of subsistence and to find employment in Italy. Before the High Administrative Court, the BAMF invoked that there was no need for further clarifications over the situation in Italy and also the applicant did not raise any specific request for evidence that would require an oral hearing.

The Federal Administrative Court considered that the lower court took into consideration the applicant’s arguments on the access to labour market in Italy even tough if did not find compelling reasons to cancel the transfer. The Federal Administrative Court also stated that no new oral hearing is necessary if the case does not raise questions of fact or law which cannot be adequately resolved on the basis of the file and the written observations of the parties, as mentioned in the ECtHR case law.

Moreover, the Federal Administrative Court considered that there was no further need to clarify on the threshold to find a risk of inhuman and degrading treatment since the CJEU clarified already in Ibrahim that a person entitled to protection is actually threatened with a situation of extreme material hardship, independent of his will and his personal decision, only after the unsuccessful exhaustion of all (legal) remedies to avert the violation of fundamental rights. Precisely, when the applicant is not vulnerable, but healthy and able-bodied person, the latter is expected to develop a high degree of initiative, to make all reasonable efforts to ensure their basic existential needs, including the submission of applications to authorities and courts, and to actively seek and avail themselves of the support of civil society organisations.

According to the Federal Administrative Court, the decisive factor is whether, in the event of their repatriation, the non-vulnerable persons concerned, despite all the efforts to be demanded of them and also when taking advantage of all the reasonable offers available, were likely to find themselves in a situation of extreme material hardship which did not allow them to satisfy their most elementary needs and which adversely affected their health or put them in a state of impoverishment.

Since the High Administrative Court did not establish a different legal principle from this, the Federal administrative Court considered that there is no point of divergence or of clarification.