Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Freedom of movement for persons - Freedom to provide services - Derogations - Grounds of public policy - Criminal conviction for drug use - Automatic penalty of expulsion for life from the Member State's territory applied to Community nationals - Not permissible

(EC Treaty, Arts 48, 52, 56 and 59; Council Directive 64/221, Art. 3)

Summary

Articles 48, 52 and 59 of the Treaty and Article 3 of Directive 64/221 on the coordination of special measures concerning the movement and residence of foreign nationals which are justified on grounds of public policy, public security or public health preclude national legislation which - with certain exceptions, in particular where there are family reasons - requires a Member State's courts to order expulsion for life from its territory of nationals of other Member States found guilty on that territory of the offences of obtaining and being in possession of drugs for their own personal use.

Such a penalty constitutes an obstacle to the fundamental freedoms laid down in those articles of the Treaty. Although a Member State may consider that the use of drugs constitutes a danger for society such as to justify special measures against foreign nationals who contravene its laws on drugs, in order to maintain public order, an expulsion order justified by the public policy exception provided for inter alia in Article 56 of the Treaty could be made against a Community national only if, besides his having committed an offence under drugs laws, his personal conduct created a genuine and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society. That is not the position where expulsion for life from the national territory has automatically followed a criminal conviction, and no account has been taken of the offender's personal conduct or of the danger which that person represents for the requirements of public policy.