Skip Ribbon Commands
Skip to main content
02/03/2023
NL: The Court of the Hague seated in Arnhem held that the State Secretary must investigate further the situation in Bulgaria prior to concluding that a Dublin transfer can take place, considering indications that pushbacks also take place after re-admission to Bulgaria.

ECLI
ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2023:2454
Input Provided By
EUAA IDS
Other Source/Information
Type
Judgment
Original Documents
Relevant Legislative Provisions
Dublin Regulation III (Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for IP)
Reference
Netherlands, Court of The Hague [Rechtbank Den Haag], Applicant v State Secretary for Justice and Security (Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid), NL22.20076, ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2023:2454, 02 March 2023. 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=3428
Case history
Other information
Abstract

The applicant requested international protection in the Netherlands on 3 May 2022. A Eurodac hit showed that he had previously submitted an application for international protection in Bulgaria on 27 September 2021. By decision of 6 October 2022, the State Secretary did not process the applicant's request, as based on Article 30(1) of the Aliens Act 2000 (Vw 2000), it was established under the Dublin III Regulation that another Member State was responsible for processing the application. The authorities submitted a take back request to Bulgaria to which Bulgaria did not respond within the deadline and so it was considered that Bulgaria's responsibility has been established.


The applicant appealed against the decision.


The Court of the Hague sitting in Arnhem allowed the appeal and held that the State Secretary cannot simply assume the interstate principle of mutual trust with regard to Bulgaria, without further investigation.


Taking into account AIDA reports on Bulgaria, invoked by the applicant, the court considered that he has made it sufficiently plausible that the situation for Dublin transferees in Bulgaria has deteriorated. The court noted that AIDA reported on serious indications that pushbacks also took place for third country nationals re-admitted by Bulgaria from other EU Member States. For that reason, the court considered that the State Secretary should have conducted further research into the risk for Dublin transferees being returned from Bulgaria without access to the asylum procedure or during the processing of their asylum applications. The court considered that this was a fundamental systemic deficiency with regard to Bulgaria, which reached the particularly high threshold of seriousness.


Country of Decision
Netherlands
Court Name
NL: Court of The Hague [Rechtbank Den Haag]
Case Number
NL22.20076
Date of Decision
02/03/2023
Country of Origin
Unknown
Keywords
Access to procedures
Dublin procedure
Source
uitspraken
RETURN