Skip Ribbon Commands
Skip to main content
08/11/2022
The CJEU ruled that judicial authorities have to review ex officio the lawfulness of detention decisions either in return or related to international protection procedure

ECLI
ECLI:EU:C:2022:858
Input Provided By
EUAA Information and Analysis Sector (IAS)
Other Source/Information
Type
Judgment
Original Documents
Relevant Legislative Provisions
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (EU Charter); Return Directive (Directive 2008/115/EC of 16 December 2008 on common standards and procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nationals); Recast Asylum Procedures Directive (Directive 2013/32/EU on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection) (recast APD) and/or APD 2005/85/CE
Reference
European Union, Court of Justice of the European Union [CJEU], C, B and X v State Secretary for Justice and Security (Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid), Joined Cases C-704/20 and C-39/21, ECLI:EU:C:2022:858, 08 November 2022. Link redirects to the English summary in the EUAA Case Law Database.
Permanent link to the case
https://caselaw.euaa.europa.eu/pages/viewcaselaw.aspx?CaseLawID=2865
Case history
Other information
Abstract

According to the Press Release of the CJEU: 


'Nationals of Algeria, Morocco and Sierra Leone have challenged detention measures taken in respect of them before the Netherlands courts. The Netherlands Council of State and the District Court of The Hague, sitting in ’s-Hertogenbosch, have asked the Court whether EU law requires courts to review of their own motion any failure to comply with a condition governing the lawfulness of a detention measure which has not been invoked by the person concerned.


The Court recalls, first of all, that any detention of a third-country national, whether in the context of a return procedure as a result of an illegal stay, of the processing of an application for international protection or of the transfer of an applicant for such protection to the Member State responsible for examining his or her application, constitutes a serious interference with the right of that national to liberty enshrined in Article 6 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Consequently, where it is apparent that the conditions governing the lawfulness of detention have not been or are no longer satisfied, the person concerned must be released immediately. That is the case, in particular, where it is found that the procedure for return, for examination of the application for international protection or for transfer, as the case may be, is no longer being carried out with due diligence, or that the detention measure is not, or is no longer, proportionate. The Court goes on to state that, in relation to detention of foreign nationals, the EU legislature has not confined itself to establishing common substantive standards, but has also established, in the light of the principle of effective judicial protection, common procedural standards, the purpose of which is to ensure that, in each Member State, there is a system which enables the competent judicial authority to release the person concerned, where appropriate after an examination of its own motion, as soon as it is apparent that his or her detention is not, or is no longer, lawful.


It follows that the judicial authority competent to review the lawfulness of a detention measure must take into consideration all the elements, in particular the facts, brought to its knowledge, as supplemented or clarified in the context of procedural measures which it deems necessary to adopt on the basis of its national law, and, on the basis of these elements, raise, where appropriate, the failure to comply with a condition governing lawfulness arising from EU law, even if that failure has not been raised by the person concerned. That requirement is without prejudice to the judicial authority’s obligation to invite each party to express its views on that condition in accordance with the adversarial principle.'


Country of Decision
European Union
Court Name
EU: Court of Justice of the European Union [CJEU]
Case Number
Joined Cases C-704/20 and C-39/21
Date of Decision
08/11/2022
Country of Origin
Algeria
Keywords
Detention/ Alternatives to Detention
Effective remedy
Second instance determination / Appeal
RETURN