On 22 September 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) gave a preliminary ruling in the Case C-497/21. The main proceedings concerned Georgian asylum applicants in Germany after their asylum applications had been rejected in Denmark. The German court referred several questions which concerned the interpretation of Article 33(2)(d) of the Asylum Procedures Directive 2013/32/EU.
The CJEU noted that, due to the Agreement between the EU and Denmark, Denmark applies certain provisions of Dublin III, and can consequently be requested to take back those who have made a further application for international protection in another Member State; however, it does not implement EU Qualification Directive 2011/95 or the Asylum Procedures Directive 2013/32. Therefore, the Court held that applications for international protection made to a Member State cannot be characterised as a subsequent application if they have been made after the rejection of Denmark of a comparable application by the same applicant.
For these reasons, the CJEU concluded that MS cannot reject an application, even if limited to the part concerning the granting of refugee status, as inadmissible on the basis that it was previously lodged and rejected in Denmark, and it further held this applies both for refugee status but also subsidiary protection status under the Qualification Directive.