Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2013:475
Date: 2013-07-11
Language of the case: Dutch
Subject matter: Association Agreement;External relations;Free movement of workers
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber), 7 November 2013 1. International agreements — EEC-Turkey Association Agreement — Freedom of movement for persons — Workers — Standstill rule in Article 13 of Decision No 1/80 of the Association Council — Scope — Prohibition on Member States from introducing new restrictions on first admissions into their territory of Turkish nationals — Restrictions aiming to define the criteria for the lawfulness of the Turkish nationals’ situation — Included — Limits — Overriding reasons in the public interest — Prevention of unauthorised entry and residence (Decision No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council, Arts 13 and 14) 2. International agreements — EEC-Turkey Association Agreement — Freedom of movement for persons — Workers — Standstill rule in Article 13 of Decision No 1/80 of the Association Council — Conditions under which applicable — Turkish national who is ‘legally’ present in the host Member State — Meaning (Decision No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council, Art. 13) 1. Article 13 of Decision No 1/80 on the development of the Association, adopted by the Association Council set up by the Agreement establishing an Association between the European Economic Community and Turkey, must be interpreted as meaning that where a measure taken by a host Member State seeks to define the criteria for the lawfulness of the Turkish nationals’ situation, by adopting or amending the substantive and/or procedural conditions relating to entry, residence and, where applicable, employment, of those nationals in its territory, and where those conditions constitute a new restriction of the exercise of the freedom of movement of Turkish workers, within the meaning of the ‘standstill’ clause set out in Article 13, the mere fact that the purpose of the measure is to prevent, before an application for a residence permit is made, unlawful entry and residence, does not preclude the application of that clause. While the measures that may be taken against Turkish nationals whose position is not lawful may apply to the effects of such unlawfulness without falling outside the scope of the ‘standstill’ clause set out in Article 13 of Decision No 1/80, they must not seek to define the unlawfulness itself. Such a restriction, whose purpose or effect is to make the exercise by a Turkish national of the freedom of movement of workers in national territory subject to conditions more restrictive than those applicable at the date of entry into force of Decision No 1/80, is prohibited, unless it falls within the restrictions referred to in Article 14 of that decision or in so far as it is justified by an overriding reason in the public interest. In that regard, whilst the objective of preventing unlawful entry and residence constitutes an overriding reason in the public interest, it is important too that the measure at issue should be suitable for securing the attainment of that objective and that it does not go beyond what is necessary in order to attain it. (see paras 36, 38, 40-42, operative part 1) 2. Article 13 of Decision No 1/80 on the development of the Association, adopted by the Association Council set up by the Agreement establishing an Association between the European Economic Community and Turkey, must be interpreted as meaning that holding a temporary residence permit, which is valid only pending a final decision on the right of residence, does not fall within the meaning of ‘legally resident’. ‘Legally’, within the meaning of Article 13, refers to a stable, secure situation in the territory of the Member State which presupposes that the interested party’s right of residence is undisputed. (see paras 48, 49, operative part 2)