# C_2023127EN.01001302.xml

| 11.4.2023 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 127/13 |
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11.4.2023

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 127/13

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Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 16 February 2023 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Rechtbank Den Haag zittingsplaats Zwolle — Netherlands) — L.G. v Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid

(Case C-745/21, (1) Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid (Unborn child at the time of the asylum application))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Asylum policy - Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 - Criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection - Article 6(1) - Best interests of the child - Article 16(1) - Dependent person - Article 17(1) - Discretionary clauses - Implementation by a Member State - Third-country national pregnant at the time of lodging her application for international protection - Marriage - Spouse beneficiary of international protection in the Member State concerned - Decision refusing to process the application and to transfer the applicant to another Member State deemed to be responsible for the application)

(2023/C 127/15)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Rechtbank Den Haag zittingsplaats Zwolle

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: L.G.

Defendant: Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid

Operative part of the judgment

| 1. | Article 16(1) of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person
  must be interpreted as not applying where there is a dependency link either between an applicant for international protection and that applicant’s spouse who is legally resident in the Member State in which the application for such protection was lodged, or between the unborn child of that applicant and that spouse who is also the father of that child. |
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1.

Article 16(1) of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person

must be interpreted as not applying where there is a dependency link either between an applicant for international protection and that applicant’s spouse who is legally resident in the Member State in which the application for such protection was lodged, or between the unborn child of that applicant and that spouse who is also the father of that child.

| 2. | Article 17(1) of Directive 604/2013
  must be interpreted as not precluding the legislation of a Member State from requiring the competent national authorities, on the sole ground of the best interests of the child, to examine an application for international protection lodged by a third-country national where she was pregnant at the time her application was lodged, even though the criteria set out in Articles 7 to 15 of that regulation indicate that another Member State is responsible for that application. |
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2.

Article 17(1) of Directive 604/2013

must be interpreted as not precluding the legislation of a Member State from requiring the competent national authorities, on the sole ground of the best interests of the child, to examine an application for international protection lodged by a third-country national where she was pregnant at the time her application was lodged, even though the criteria set out in Articles 7 to 15 of that regulation indicate that another Member State is responsible for that application.

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(1)  OJ C 138, 28.3.2022.

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