Case C‑84/12

Rahmanian Koushkaki

v

Bundesrepublik Deutschland

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgericht Berlin)

‛Area of freedom, security and justice — Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 — Articles 21(1), 32(1) and 35(6) — Procedures and conditions for issuing uniform visas — Obligation to issue a visa — Assessment of the risk of illegal immigration — Intention of the applicant to leave the territory of the Member States before the expiry of the visa applied for — Reasonable doubt — Discretion of the competent authorities’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber), 19 December 2013

1. Border controls, asylum and immigration — Visa policy — Community Code on Visas — Regulation No 810/2009 — Procedures and conditions for issuing uniform visas — Obligation to issue a visa — Exceptions — Grounds for refusal strictly listed by that regulation — Scope — Discretion of the competent authorities

   (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 810/2009, Arts 23(4), 32(1) and 35(6))

2. Border controls, asylum and immigration — Visa policy — Community Code on Visas — Regulation No 810/2009 — Procedures and conditions for issuing uniform visas — Obligation to issue a visa — Conditions — No reasonable doubt that the applicant intends to leave the territory of the Member States before the expiry of the visa applied for — Assessment of actual situation

   (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 810/2009, Art. 32(1))

3. Border controls, asylum and immigration — Visa policy — Community Code on Visas — Regulation No 810/2009 — Conditions for issuing uniform visas — National provision not providing for an obligation on the national authorities to issue a uniform visa where those conditions are satisfied — Lawfulness — Condition — Interpretation of such a national provision in accordance with that regulation

   (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 810/2009, Arts 23(4), 32(1) and 35(6))

1.  Articles 23(4), 32(1) and 35(6) of Regulation No 810/2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas must be interpreted as meaning that the competent authorities of a Member State cannot refuse, following the examination of an application for a uniform visa, to issue such a visa to an applicant unless one of the grounds for refusal of a visa listed in those provisions can be applied to that applicant. Those authorities have a wide discretion in the examination of that application so far as concerns the conditions for the application of those provisions and the assessment of the relevant facts, with a view to ascertaining whether one of those grounds for refusal can be applied to the applicant.

   (see paras 55, 63, operative part 1)

2.  Article 32(1) of Regulation No 810/2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas, read in conjunction with Article 21(1) thereof, must be interpreted as meaning that the obligation on the competent authorities of a Member State to issue a uniform visa is subject to the condition that there is no reasonable doubt that the applicant intends to leave the territory of the Member States before the expiry of the visa applied for, in the light of the general situation in the applicant’s country of residence and his individual characteristics, determined in the light of information provided by the applicant.

   (see para. 73, operative part 2)

3.  Regulation No 810/2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas must be interpreted as not precluding a national provision which provides that, where the conditions for the issue of a visa provided for by that Code are satisfied, the competent authorities have the power to issue a uniform visa to the applicant, but does not state that they are obliged to issue that visa, in so far as such a provision can be interpreted in a way that is in conformity with Articles 23(4), 32(1) and 35(6) of that regulation.

   It is for the referring court, as far as possible, to interpret that national provision to the effect that the competent authorities cannot refuse to issue a uniform visa to an applicant unless one of the grounds for refusal of a visa provided for in those articles can be applied to the applicant.

   (see paras 77, 78, operative part 3)