Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2023:469
Date: 2023-06-08
Language of the case: Dutch
Subject matter: Asylum policy;Area of freedom, security and justice;Fundamental rights;Charter of Fundamental Rights
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

summary of the relevant findings of fact as determined by the referring court or, at least, an account of the facts on which the questions are based (judgment of 3 December 2019, Iccrea Banca, C‑414/18, EU:C:2019:1036, paragraph 28 and the case-law cited). 79 In the case at hand, as has been noted in paragraphs 11, 12 and 15 of the present judgment, the factors substantiating the applications for international protection at issue in the main proceedings, as has been put forward by the applicants and noted by the competent national authority and by the referring court, includes facts relating to the general level of violence and insecurity in Libya, to the difficult living conditions in Tripoli and to the resulting ‘humanitarian situation’. 80 However, in no way does it follow from those factors, as set out in the request for a preliminary ruling, that such a humanitarian situation is the direct or indirect consequence of the acts and/or omissions of an actor of serious harm inflicted in the context of an international or internal armed conflict, within the meaning of Article 15(c) of Directive 2011/95. 81 In addition, the referring court has failed to indicate who is the actor of the acts and/or omissions in question and what those acts and/or omissions consist of. 82 It follows that the referring court has not sufficiently demonstrated how an answer to the fourth question is necessary to enable it to resolve the dispute in the main proceedings, nor has it set out in a sufficient manner the facts on which that question is based. 83 In those circumstances, the fourth question must be declared inadmissible. Costs 84 Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the action pending before the referring court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court. Costs incurred in submitting observations to the Court, other than the costs of those parties, are not recoverable. On those grounds, the Court (Fourth Chamber) hereby rules: 1. Article 15 of Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted must be interpreted as meaning that in order to determine whether an applicant for international protection is eligible for subsidiary protection, the competent national authority must examine all the relevant factors, relating both to the individual position and personal circumstances of the applicant and to the general situation in the country of origin, before identifying the type of serious harm that those factors may potentially substantiate. 2. Article 15(c) of Directive 2011/95 must be interpreted as meaning that in order to assess whether there is a real risk of suffering a type of serious harm as defined in that provision, the competent national authority must be able to take account of factors relating to the individual position and personal circumstances of the applicant other than the mere fact of coming from an area of a given country where ‘the most extreme cases of general violence’, within the meaning of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights of 17 July 2008, NA. v. the United Kingdom (CE:ECHR:2008:0717JUD002590407, § 115), occur. 3. Article 15(b) of Directive 2011/95 must be interpreted as meaning that the intensity of the indiscriminate violence occurring in the applicant’s country of origin is not capable of weakening the requirement of individualisation of the serious harm defined in that provision. [Signatures] * Language of the case: Dutch.