The applicant, Syrian national, applied for asylum in the Netherlands but the State Secretary considered that Croatia is responsible for processing the application and the Court of the Hague overturned this decision and the State Secretary appealed against, claiming that the principle of mutual trust between Member States has to be applied for Croatia. The applicant complained that he would be subject to pushback if returned to Croatia and to a violation of the Article 3 ECHR.

The Council of State noted that the take back request was sent in accordance with Article 18 of the Dublin III Regulation and that the Croatian authorities were duly informed of the situation before they accepted the request. The Council of State also noted that upon return, the applicant will no longer have the status of illegal migrant, thus he can not be subject to pushbacks. It noted that the treatment of the third country nationals by the Croatian authorities after his illegal border crossing does not automatically mean that he will be treated in the same way as a returning Dublin applicant and it is not apparent from the documents submitted by him that Croatia forwards third country nationals transferred to that Member State under the Dublin Regulation by means of pushbacks to third countries without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum. 

The Council of State considered that the State Secretary rightly argued that the principle of mutual trust between Member States is applicable with regards to Croatia and that the Croatian authorities guaranteed through the take back agreement that the third country national's application for international protection will be dealt with. 

The AIDA country report 2019 Update contains a section on the living conditions in reception centres, from which it results, among other things, that the facilities and staffing are currently sufficient and that system-related structural shortcomings in the asylum procedure and in the reception system as referred to in Article 3, second paragraph of the Dublin III Regulation do not exist. The Croatian authorities have also guaranteed through a take back agreement that the third country's application for international protection will be dealt with. 

The Council of State allowed the appeal of the State Secretary and concluded that the transfer of the applicant to Croatia can be implemented, as no situation contrary to the Article 3 ECHR has been found.