Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 7 November 2018 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Raad van State — Netherlands) — K, B v Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie

(Case C-380/17) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Jurisdiction of the Court - Directive 2003/86/EC - Right to family reunification - Article 12 - Failure to comply with the time limit of three months following the grant of international protection - Beneficiary of subsidiary protection status - Rejection of an application for a visa))

(2019/C 16/22)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Raad van State

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellants: K, B

Other party: Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie

Operative part of the judgment

The Court of Justice has jurisdiction, on the basis of Article 267 TFEU, to interpret Article 12(1) of Council Directive 2003/86/EC of 22 September 2003 on the right to family reunification in a situation such as that at issue in the main proceedings, where a national court is called upon to rule on a beneficiary of subsidiary protection’s right to family reunification, if that provision was made directly and unconditionally applicable to such a situation under national law.

Article 12(1) of Directive 2003/86 does not preclude national legislation which permits an application for family reunification lodged on behalf of a member of a refugee’s family, on the basis of the more favourable provisions for refugees of Chapter V of that directive, to be rejected on the ground that that application was lodged more than three months after the sponsor was granted refugee status, whilst affording the possibility of lodging a fresh application under a different set of rules provided that that legislation:

—	lays down that such a ground of refusal cannot apply to situations in which particular circumstances render the late submission of the initial application objectively excusable;

—	lays down that the persons concerned are to be fully informed of the consequences of the decision rejecting their initial application and of the measures which they can take to assert their rights to family reunification effectively; and

—	ensures that sponsors recognised as refugees continue to benefit from the more favourable conditions for the exercise of the right to family reunification applicable to refugees, specified in Articles 10 and 11 or in Article 12(2) of the directive.

(1) OJ C 300, 11.9.2017.