Criminal proceedings against Mossa Ouhrami.
Date: 2017-07-26
35


In that regard, it must be noted that the Court has held that Directive 2008/115 is applicable to those effects which occur after the date of its applicability in the Member State concerned of entry-ban decisions taken under national rules which were applicable before that date. Although that directive does not include a provision providing for transitional arrangements in relation to entry-ban decisions adopted before it became applicable, it is nevertheless clear from settled case-law that new rules apply immediately, except in the event of a derogation, to the future effects of a situation which arose under the old rules (see, to that effect, judgment of 19 September 2013, Filev and Osmani, C‑297/12, EU:C:2013:569, paragraphs 39 to 41).
38


For the purposes of interpreting that provision, it should be noted that, in accordance with the need for a uniform application of EU law and the principle of equality, a provision of EU law which makes no express reference to the law of the Member States for the purpose of determining its meaning and scope must normally be given an autonomous and uniform interpretation throughout the European Union, and that interpretation must take into account, inter alia, the context of the provision and the objective pursued by the legislation in question (see, by analogy, judgment of 17 July 2008, Kozłowski, C‑66/08, EU:C:2008:437, paragraph 42 and the case-law cited).
54


With regard to the question whether, in a situation such as that at issue in the main proceedings, Directive 2008/115 precludes the imposition of a prison sentence for the breach of a decision declaring the person concerned undesirable, where such a decision has the legal effects mentioned in paragraph 34 of this judgment, it should be noted that the Court has held that a Member State may not impose criminal sanctions for breach of an entry ban coming within the scope of Directive 2008/115 unless the continuation of the effects of that ban complies with Article 11 of that directive (see, to that effect, judgments of 19 September 2013, Filev and Osmani, C‑297/12, EU:C:2013:569, paragraph 37, and of 1 October 2015, Celaj, C‑290/14, EU:C:2015:640, paragraph 31).
56


In that regard, it must be noted that it is settled case-law that Directive 2008/115 precludes legislation of a Member State laying down criminal penalties for initial illegal stays, in so far as that legislation permits the imprisonment of a third-country national who, though staying illegally on the territory of that Member State and not being willing to leave that territory voluntarily, has not been subject to the coercive measures referred to in Article 8 of the directive. However, the Court has pointed out that Directive 2008/115 does not preclude national legislation which permits the imprisonment of a third-country national to whom the return procedure established by the directive has been applied and who is staying illegally on the territory of the Member State without a justified ground for non-return (see, to that effect, judgments of 6 December 2011, Achughbabian, C‑329/11, EU:C:2011:807, paragraph 50, and of 7 June 2016, Affum, C‑47/15, EU:C:2016:408, paragraphs 52 and 54).