AN EU MEMBER STATE IS NOT OBLIGED TO AUTOMATICALLY RECOGNIZE REFUGEE STATUS GRANTED IN ANOTHER MEMBER STATE

#121An EU member state is not obliged to automatically recognize refugee status granted in another member state

The Court of Justice ruled in the judgment in case C-753/22 dated 18.06.2024 that a member state is not obliged to automatically recognize the status of a refugee granted in another member state.

A Syrian citizen, who was granted refugee status by Greece, applied for international protection in Germany. A German court ruled that this Syrian national cannot return to Greece, due to the poor living conditions of the refugees she would face there and also the serious risk of inhuman or degrading treatment. Despite the court's decision, her request for refugee status was rejected by the competent German authority, but she was granted supplementary protection. The person in question therefore filed a lawsuit against the refusal to grant refugee status to the German courts.

The German Federal Administrative Court therefore turned to the Court of Justice with the question of whether, in such a situation, the competent authority is obliged to grant the applicant refugee status only because this status has already been granted to him by another member state, or whether he can proceed to a new independent examination of this application from a substantive point of view.

In its decision, the Court of Justice therefore dealt with the issue of the legal status of refugees. In its decision, the Court of Justice states that, at this stage of Union law, Member States are not obliged to automatically recognize decisions on the granting of refugee status taken by another Member State. However, Member States may do so. Germany did not use this authority.

According to the court, in the event that a member state cannot reject an application for international protection of an applicant who has already been granted such protection by another member state, as inadmissible due to a serious risk that the applicant will be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment in another member state, the member state must carry out a new individual assessment of the applicant's application for international protection, in which he is obliged to fully take into account the decision of another member state and the facts on which this decision is based.

For these purposes, the competent authority should start exchanging information with the authority that received it as soon as possible. If the applicant meets all the conditions for being considered a refugee, the competent authority will grant him refugee status without having to assess and decide on the application himself.