In the event of implicit withdrawal or abandonment of an asylum application, Art. 28 par. 2 of the directive 2013/32/EU allows Member States to determine in their legislation a time limit of at least nine months, after which the applicant’s case can no longer be reopened or the new application may be treated as a subsequent application. The German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees launched an Ad Hoc Query to enquire whether and how the Member States transposed this provision.

In a judgement released today in case C-222/22, the Court of Justice of the European Union held that the Qualification Directive does not permit a presumption that any subsequent application based on circumstances which the applicant has created by his or her own decision since leaving the country of origin stems from abusive intent and abuse of the procedure for the grant of international protection. Any subsequent application must be assessed on an individual basis.