Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 18 June 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesverwaltungsgericht – Germany) – QY v Bundesrepublik Deutschland

(Case C-753/22,  (1) Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Effect of a decision granting refugee status))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Area of freedom, security and justice - Common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection - Directive 2013/32/EU - Article 33(2)(a) - No possibility for the authorities of a Member State to reject an application for asylum as inadmissible on the ground that refugee status was previously granted in another Member State - Article 4 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Risk of being subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment in that other Member State - Examination by those authorities of that application for asylum despite the granting of refugee status in that other Member State - Directive 2011/95/EU - Article 4 - Individual examination)

(C/2024/4696)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Bundesverwaltungsgericht

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant: QY

Respondent: Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Operative part of the judgment

Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person, Article 4(1) and Article 13 of Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted, and Article 10(2) and (3) and Article 33(1) and (2)(a) of Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection

must be interpreted as meaning that where the competent authority of a Member State cannot exercise the option available to it under the last of those provisions to reject as inadmissible an application for international protection made by an applicant, to which another Member State has already granted such protection, on account of a serious risk that that applicant will be subjected, in that other Member State, to inhuman or degrading treatment, within the meaning of Article 4 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, that authority must carry out a new, individual, full and up-to-date examination of that application in a new international protection procedure conducted in accordance with Directives 2011/95 and 2013/32. Within the framework of that examination, that authority must nevertheless take full account of the decision of that other Member State to grant international protection to that applicant and of the elements on which that decision is based.

(1)   OJ C 104, 20.3.2023.