Case registered before the CJEU under C-753/22

According to the press release of the Federal Administrative Court of 7 September 2022:

"The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is called upon to answer the question whether EU law must be interpreted as meaning that the fact that refugee status has already been granted in one Member State (here: Greece) prevents another Member State (here: Germany) from carrying out an examination of the application for international protection submitted to it that is unbiased as to the outcome in a case where a return of the applicant to the former Member State is precluded by a risk of violation of article 4 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) for which the asylum application in Germany may not be rejected as inadmissible. That was decided by the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG, Bundesverwaltungsgericht) in Leipzig today.

The claimant, a Syrian national, was already granted refugee status in Greece in 2018. She cannot return to Greece because, according to the final and binding decision of an administrative court (Verwaltungsgericht), she would face a serious risk of inhuman or degrading treatment in Greece within the meaning of article 4 CFR.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, hereinafter Federal Office) granted her subsidiary protection by notice of 1 October 2019 and rejected her application for the granting of refugee status. The claimant continues to pursue such status by her action which was dismissed by the administrative court. Greece's granting of refugee protection was not considered binding on Germany in the case at hand. On this basis, the claimant's application was found to be unfounded since she is not at risk of persecution in Syria.

The 1st Senate deciding on appeals on points of law of the Federal Administrative Court has suspended the proceedings until the Court of Justice has ruled on the following question referred for a preliminary ruling:

In the event that a Member State may not exercise the power conferred by article 33 (2) (a) of Directive 2013/32 to reject as inadmissible an application for international protection with a view to the granting of refugee status in another Member State because living conditions in that Member State would expose the applicant to a serious risk of inhuman or degrading treatment within the meaning of article 4 CFR, must article 3 (1) second sentence of Regulation (EU) 604/2013, article 4 (1) second sentence and article 13 of Directive 2011/95/EU as well as article 10 (2) and (3) and article 33 (1) and (2) (a) of Directive 2013/32/EU be interpreted as meaning that the fact that refugee status has already been granted prevents the Member State from carrying out an examination of the application for international protection submitted to it that is unbiased as to the outcome, and obliges the Member State to grant the applicant refugee status without examining the substantive conditions for that protection?"

The CJEU ruled in this case on 18 June 2024: CJEU, QY v Bundesrepublik Deutschland, C-753/22, ECLI:EU:C:2024:524, 18 June 2024.