The Refugee Board submits a preliminary question to the EU Court of Justice

The Refugee Board has reopened and postponed a case regarding transfer to another country under the Dublin Regulation with a view to submitting a question to the European Court of Justice.

In the specific case, it was that the Danish Immigration Service made a decision in the spring of 2021 to transfer an asylum seeker to another country. The decision was brought before the Refugee Board, which in the spring of 2022 made a decision to refer the case back for renewed first-instance processing at the Danish Immigration Service, referring to the fact that the authorities of the country in question had decided to temporarily suspend transfers to the country with effect from the spring of 2022 with reference to the conflict in Ukraine and the increased influx of refugees into the country. The following month, the Immigration Service made a new decision to transfer the complainant to the country. This decision was taken after the expiration of the six-month period in the Dublin Regulation, Article 29, subsection 1, calculated from the acceptance of the transfer by the other country (the responsible Member State). The Refugee Board then made a final decision in the appeal at the end of 2022. In the spring of 2023, the Refugee Board decided to resume the case with a view to considering the interpretation of the deadline rules in the Dublin Regulation.

In September 2023, the Refugee Board asked the EU Court of Justice the following questions:
“Should the deadline provisions in the Dublin Regulation, Article 29, subsection 1 and 2, are interpreted as meaning that the period of six months in the Dublin Regulation, Article 29, subsection 1, 2nd indent, is counted from the final substantive decision of the case in cases where a review body in the requesting Member State, cf. Article 27 of the Dublin Regulation, has referred the transfer case to the competent authority in the first instance, which subsequently has taken a renewed decision on transfer later than six months after receipt of the responsible Member State’s acceptance, including when the return is justified by the fact that the responsible Member State which initially accepted the transfer has subsequently decided to suspend transfers in general pursuant to the Dublin Regulation, and where the deportation of the alien in question has been given suspension effect?”

22. December 2023

Comm: CJEU