Detention of asylum-seekers: the first CJEU judgment

One of the most controversial aspects of immigration and asylum law is the detention of migrants: people who have broken no criminal law (other than, possibly a criminal law about migration control) but who are detained during their asylum application, or pending their removal from the country. The EU has had rules on detention of irregular migrants for some time, in the Returns Directive. But it has only recently had rules on the detention of asylum-seekers, in the second-phase Directive on the reception conditions for asylum-seekers. (The UK and Ireland have opted out of both Directives).

In the JN judgment in February 2016, the CJEU ruled for the first time on the interpretation of these new rules. In fact, this was the Court’s very first judgment on any aspect of the second-phase legislation, although it soon gave another judgment (on the rights of people with subsidiary protection), and other cases are pending. The Court’s ruling addresses a number of key questions of interpretation of the detention rules, but left a number of issues open.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Press Release: Judgment in Case C-601/15 PPU. J.N. v Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-judgment-in-case-c-601-15-ppu-j-n-v-staatssecretaris-van-veiligheid-en-justitie/

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