According to the press release of the CJEU:

"A Syrian national who left his country in 2012 and feared being recalled to serve in the armed forces or arrested if he refused to fulfil his military obligations there was granted, in 2017, subsidiary protection in Germany. However, he was refused refugee status. In the wake of a judgment of the Court of Justice concerning the situation of Syrian conscientious objectors, he lodged a further asylum application (a ‘subsequent application’). He argued that that judgment constituted a change in the legal position in his favour. That subsequent application, however, was rejected as inadmissible, that is to say without examining whether the conditions required to qualify for refugee status were met. The individual concerned challenged that refusal before a German court.

That court asked the Court, inter alia, whether it is compatible with EU law to consider that, in principle, only an amendment to the applicable provisions, and not a judicial decision, can constitute a new element justifying, where appropriate, a full examination of the subsequent application.

The Court answers that, in principle, any judgment of the Court can constitute a new element justifying a full re-examination if the conditions required to qualify for refugee status are met. That applies also for a judgment which is limited to interpreting a provision of EU law already in force at the time that a decision on a previous application was adopted. The date on which the judgment was delivered is irrelevant. However, in order for a judgment of the Court to constitute a full re-examination, it must significantly add to the likelihood of the applicant qualifying as a beneficiary of refugee status. As regards the remainder of the procedure in the event that a national court or tribunal annuls a decision rejecting a subsequent application as inadmissible, the Court further states that Member States may, without being obliged to do so, authorise their courts or tribunals to rule themselves on that application and, where appropriate, grant refugee status."