Case C-341/18: Request for a preliminary ruling from the Raad van State (Netherlands) lodged on 24 May 2018 — Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid v J. and Others

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Raad van State (Netherlands) lodged on 24 May 2018 — Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid v J. and Others

(Case C-341/18)

Referring court

Raad van State

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid

Defendant: J. and Others

Other parties: C. and H. and Others

Question referred

Must Article 11(1) of Regulation 2016/399 ( 1 ) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2016 on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) be interpreted as meaning that a third-country national who previously entered the Schengen area, for example through an international airport, exits within the meaning of the Schengen Borders Code as soon as he, as a seafarer, signs on with a seagoing vessel that is already berthed in a seaport which is an external border, irrespective of whether, and if so when, he will leave that seaport with that ship? Or, in order for there to be an exit, must it first be established that the seafarer will leave the seaport with the seagoing vessel concerned, and if so, does a deadline apply within which the departure must take place and at what time must the exit stamp then be applied? Or should a different time, whether or not under other conditions, be equated with ‘exit’?

( 1 ) Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) (OJ 2016 L 77, p. 1).