The judgment concerns the interpretation of Article 14(4)(b) of the recast Qualification Directive in a case between AA, a third-country national and the Austrian Federal Office for Aliens and Asylum (BFA).

AA lodged a request for international protection in Austria on 10 December 2014, which was allowed and he was provided refugee protection on 22 December 2015. On 22 March 2018, AA was sentenced to one year and three months imprisonment and a 180-day fine for having committed the offenses of dangerous threat, destruction or damage to the property of others, prohibited handling of narcotics and drug trafficking. On 14 January 2019, AA was sentenced to three-month imprisonment for assault, battery and threat. On 11 March 2019, he was sentenced to six months imprisonment for attempted assault. The sentences were commuted to suspended sentences. On 13 August 2019, AA was fined for aggressive behavior towards a public officer.

By decision of 24 September 2019, the BFA withdrew refugee status, refused to grant him subsidiary protection and issued a return decision accompanied by a travel ban and set a deadline for voluntary departure, while declaring that his removal is not authorised.

AA appealed against the BFA decision before the Federal Administrative Court and he was subsequently sentenced to four and five months imprisonment for causing bodily harm and threat, without the suspensions previously issued being revoked.

On 28 May 2021, the Federal Administrative Court annulled the BFA decision, held that AA had been convicted for having committed a particularly serious crime and posed a threat to society but nevertheless, that if returned to his country of origin, he would be subjected to a risk of torture or death, and so the interests of the Member State and those of the third-country national should be balanced in the applicant’s favor.

The BFA appealed in review against that judgment and the Administrative Court of Austria, referred questions to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling.

According to the CJEU Press release of 6 July 2023, “the revocation of refugee status is conditional on the competent authority establishing that such a measure is proportionate having regard to the danger posed by the third-country national concerned to a fundamental interest of the society of the Member State in which he or she is present. It clarifies, however, that the competent authority is not required to take into consideration, in the context of that balancing exercise, the extent and nature of the measures to which that third-country national would be exposed if he or she were to return to his or her country of origin.”