6.2.2017

Official Journal of the European Union

C 38/18

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil du contentieux des étrangers (Belgium) lodged on 12 December 2016 — X, X v État belge

(Case C-638/16)

(2017/C 038/24)

Language of the case: French

Referring court

Conseil du contentieux des étrangers

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: X, X

Defendant: État belge

Questions referred

Do the ‘international obligations’, referred to in Article 25(1)(a) of Regulation No 810/2009 (1) of 13 July 2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas cover all the rights guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, including, in particular, those guaranteed by Articles 4 and 18, and do they also cover obligations which bind the Member States, in the light of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Article 33 of the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees?

In view of the answer given to the first question, must Article 25(1)(a) of Regulation No 810/2009 of 13 July 2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas be interpreted as meaning that, subject to its discretion with regard to the circumstances of the case, a Member State to which an application for a visa with limited territorial validity has been made is required to issue the visa applied for, where a risk of infringement of Article 4 and/or Article 18 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union or another international obligation by which it is bound is detected?

B.	Does the existence of links between the applicant and the Member State to which the visa application has been made (for example, family connections, host families, guarantors and sponsors) affect the answer to that question?

(1) Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas (Visa Code) (OJ 2009 L 243, p. 1).