Article 28 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, read in conjunction with Article 6 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as meaning that:

– it does not preclude national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which provides that, where the detention of an applicant for international protection begins after the requested Member State has accepted the take charge request, that detention may be maintained for no longer than two months, provided, first, that the duration of the detention does not go beyond the period of time which is necessary for the purposes of that transfer procedure, assessed by taking account of the specific requirements of that procedure in each specific case and, second, that, where applicable, that duration is not to be longer than six weeks from the date when the appeal or review ceases to have suspensive effect; and

– it does preclude national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which allows, in such a situation, the detention to be maintained for 3 or 12 months during which the transfer could be reasonably carried out.

The third subparagraph of Article 28(3) of the Dublin III Regulation must therefore be interpreted as meaning that the period no longer than six weeks within which the transfer of a detained person must be carried out, laid down by that provision, applies only in the situation where the person concerned is already detained when one of the two events covered by that provision takes place. Consequently, when the detention of the person concerned pending his transfer begins after the requested Member State has accepted the take charge or take back request, the duration of the detention is circumscribed by one of the specific deadlines set out in Article 28(3) of that regulation, where appropriate, only from the date on which the appeal or review loses its suspensive effect in accordance with Article 27(3) of that regulation.

Failing any maximum duration of detention being set out in the Dublin III Regulation, such detention must nonetheless be compatible with, first of all, the principle laid down by the first subparagraph of Article 28(3) of that regulation that the detention be for as short a period as possible and not for longer than the time reasonably necessary to fulfil the required administrative procedures with due diligence until the transfer is carried out. Furthermore, the person concerned may not be detained for a period vastly in excess of six weeks during which the transfer could be reasonably carried out, in so far as it follows from the third subparagraph of Article 28(3) of the Dublin III Regulation that that period is, in principle, sufficient as regards, in particular, the simplified nature of the transfer procedure between the Member States established by that regulation so that the competent authorities proceed with the transfer (see, by analogy, judgment of 16 July 2015, Lanigan, C‑237/15 PPU, EU:C:2015:474, paragraph 60).

Consequently, given that the fact that the detention of an applicant for international protection begins after the requested Member State has accepted the take charge request is not such as to render the transfer of that applicant particularly difficult, detention of 3 or 12 months during which the transfer may be reasonably carried out exceeds the period of time which is reasonably necessary for the required administrative procedures with due diligence until the transfer is carried out to be satisfied.

By contrast, in such a situation, as regards the discretion enjoyed by the Member States in the adoption of measures seeking to implement EU legislation, a period of detention of two months would not be found to be necessarily excessive, its suitability in relation to the facts of each specific case having nevertheless to be assessed by the competent authority under the supervision of national courts.

(see paras 39-41, 45-47, 49, operative part 1)