41
It should be recalled that recital 9 in the preamble to Directive 2008/115 states that
‘[i]n accordance with … Directive 2005/85 … a third-country national who has applied for
asylum in a Member State should not be regarded as staying illegally on the territory of that
Member State until a negative decision on the application, or a decision ending his or her
right of stay as asylum seeker has entered into force’.
42
In accordance with Article 7(1) and (3) of Council Directive 2003/9/EC of 27 January
2003 laying down minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers (OJ 2003 L 31,
p. 18), asylum seekers may move freely within the territory of the host Member State or
within an area assigned to them by that Member State, but when it proves necessary, for
example for legal reasons or reasons of public order, Member States may confine an
applicant to a particular place in accordance with their national law.
43 Article 21 of Directive 2003/9 provides that Member States are to ensure that negative
decisions relating to the granting of benefits under that directive or decisions taken under
Article 7 which individually affect asylum seekers may be the subject of an appeal within the
procedures laid down in the national law. At least in the last instance, the possibility of an
appeal or a review before a judicial body must be granted.
44 Under Article 18(1) of Directive 2005/85, Member States must not hold a person in
detention for the sole reason that he or she is an applicant for asylum and, under Article
18(2), where an applicant for asylum is held in detention, Member States shall ensure that
there is a possibility of speedy judicial review.
45 Detention for the purpose of removal governed by Directive 2008/115 and detention of
an asylum seeker in particular under Directives 2003/9 and 2005/85 and the applicable
national provisions thus fall under different legal rules.
46
It is for the national court to determine whether Mr Kadzoev’s stay in the detention
centre during the period in which he was an asylum seeker complied with the conditions laid
down by the provisions of Community and national law concerning asylum seekers.
47 Should it prove to be the case that no decision was taken on Mr Kadzoev’s placement
in the detention centre in the context of the procedures opened following his applications for
asylum, referred to in paragraph 19 above, so that his detention remained based on the
previous national rules on detention for the purpose of removal or on the provisions of
Directive 2008/115, Mr Kadzoev’s period of detention corresponding to the period during
which those asylum procedures were under way would have to be taken into account in
calculating the period of detention for the purpose of removal mentioned in Article 15(5) and
(6) of Directive 2008/115.
48 Consequently, the answer to Question 1(b) is that a period during which a person has
been held in a detention centre on the basis of a decision taken pursuant to the provisions of
national and Community law concerning asylum seekers may not be regarded as detention for
the purpose of removal within the meaning of Article 15 of Directive 2008/115.
Question 2
49 By this question the referring court asks essentially whether Article 15(5) and (6) of
Directive 2008/115 must be interpreted as meaning that the period during which execution of