An applicant of Syrian nationality applied for international protection in Austria with her minor daughter. The Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum (BFA) dismissed their applications and decided that they be transferred to Bulgaria, which had been deemed responsible for examining their applications under the Dublin III Regulation and which had accepted a take back request of the applicants.

The applicants appealed the decisions to the Federal Administrative Court, which found that there were no grounds for annulling the transfer decisions, stating that it had not been demonstrated that there were systemic deficiencies in the Bulgarian asylum system or serious deficiencies in the reception system. The court thus rejected the appeals.

The applicants appealed the decision to the Constitutional Court and contended that a transfer of the applicants would violate the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment ­under Article 3 of the ECHR and their right to respect for private and family life under Article 8 of the ECHR. They claimed that, in Bulgaria, there were serious systemic deficiencies in the asylum procedure and reception conditions.

The Constitutional Court referred to an AIDA report from 2021, which stated that the accommodation conditions in Bulgaria continued to be overwhelmingly substandard and that, with some exceptions, measures to prevent sexual and gender-based violence were insufficient to guarantee the safety and security of persons in reception centres. The Constitutional Court underlined that the applicants, a mother and her minor child, were considered vulnerable under the recast Reception Conditions Directive 2013/33/EU. The court determined that the lower court had failed to investigate the current health situation of asylum seekers in Bulgaria and whether the applicants would receive proper reception, with regard to their vulnerability, so as to not be treated in violation of Article 3 of the ECHR.

The Constitutional Court thus annulled the transfer decision, finding that the applicants' right to equal treatment guaranteed by the Constitutional Law had been infringed.