JUDGMENT
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OF
25. 7. 2018 — CASE C-585/16
ALHETO
In that context, the words ‘shall ensure that an effective remedy provides for a full and ex nunc
examination of both facts and points of law’ must, in order not to deprive them of their ordinary
meaning, be interpreted as meaning that the Member States are required, by virtue of Article 46(3) of
Directive 2013/32, to order their national law in such a way that the processing of the appeals referred
to includes an examination, by the court or tribunal, of all the facts and points of law necessary in
order to make an up-to-date assessment of the case at hand.
In that regard, the expression ‘ex nunc’ points to the court or tribunal’s obligation to make an
assessment that takes into account, should the need arise, new evidence which has come to light after
the adoption of the decision under appeal.
Such an assessment makes it possible to deal with the application for international protection
exhaustively without there being any need to refer the case back to the determining authority. Thus,
the court’s power to take into consideration new evidence on which that authority has not taken a
decision is consistent with the purpose of Directive 2013/32, as referred to in paragraph 109 of this
judgment.
For its part, the adjective ‘full’ used in Article 46(3) of Directive 2013/32 confirms that the court or
tribunal is required to examine both the evidence which the determining authority took into account
or could have taken into account and that which has arisen following the adoption of the decision by
that authority.
Furthermore, since that provision must be interpreted in a manner consistent with Article 47 of the
Charter, the requirement for a full and ex nunc examination implies that the court or tribunal seised
of the appeal must interview the applicant, unless it considers that it is in a position to carry out the
examination solely on the basis of the information in the case file, including, where applicable, the
report or transcript of the personal interview before that authority (see, to that effect, judgment of
26 July 2017, Sacko, C-348/16, EU:C:2017:591, paragraphs 31 and 44). In the event that new evidence
comes to light after the adoption of the decision under appeal, the court or tribunal is required, as
follows from Article 47 of the Charter, to offer the applicant the opportunity to express his views
when that evidence could affect him negatively.
The words ‘where applicable’, contained in the limb of the sentence ‘including, where applicable, an
examination of the international protection needs pursuant to directive [2011/95]’, underline, as the
Commission submitted at the hearing, the fact that the full and ex nunc examination to be carried out
by the court need not necessarily involve a substantive examination of the need for international
protection and may accordingly concern the admissibility of the application for international
protection, where national law allows pursuant to Article 33(2) of Directive 2013/32.
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Finally, it must be stressed that it follows from recitals 16 and 22 of Article 4 and from the general
scheme of Directive 2013/32 that the examination of the application for international protection by an
administrative or quasi-judicial body with specific resources and specialised staff in this area is a vital
stage of the common procedures established by that directive. Accordingly, the applicant’s right
recognised by Article 46(3) of that directive to obtain a full and ex nunc examination before a court
or tribunal cannot diminish the obligation on the part of that applicant, which is governed by
Articles 12 and 13 of that directive, to cooperate with that body.
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It follows that, in the present case, Article 12(1)(a) of Directive 2011/95 constitutes a relevant point of
law which it is for the referring court to examine in its capacity as a court or tribunal of first instance,
including, in its assessment of the applicability of that provision to the circumstances of the applicant
in the main proceedings, any evidence arising after the adoption of the contested decision.
ECLI:EU:C:2018:584
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