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The Bundesverwaltungsgericht (BVerwG), which is the Federal Republic of Germany's supreme administrative court, decided that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has to prove the conformity of parts of the domestic asylum law with Article 11 (1) Qualification Directive.

Article 11(1)(e) establishes that a third country national or a stateless person shall cease to be a refugee, if he or she “can no longer, because the circumstances in connection with which he or she has been recognised as a refugee have ceased to exist, continue to refuse to avail himself or herself of the protection of the country of nationality”.

The question was referred to the ECJ in relation with three cases involving Iraqi nationals. The applicants had been recognised as refugees in Germany but had been deprived of the refugee status in 2005 consequently to the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The Court considered in this respect that the reasons to fear persecution had ceased to exist and there were no indications of the extistence of other reasons leading to a well-founded fear of persecution.

The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig has asked the ECJ to clarify if the withdrawal of refugee status is possible in case the reasons for granting it have ceased to exist and in case the applicants, if returned to their home country, would not fear persecution for other reasons. The Federal Administrative Court also wants the ECJ to clarify which situation needs to be in place in the country of orgin to ensure adequate protection for the applicants so to allow the withdrawal of the refugee status.

The Court asked the ECJ the following questions:

The Immigration Act, which is essentially made up of the Residence Act (AufenthG) and the Act on the General Freedom of Movement for EU Citizens (Freedom of Movement Act/EU), went into force on 1 January 2005. The Immigration Act has thoroughly reformed Germany’s foreigner law. Through the Immigration Act a number of other laws (such as the Asylum Procedure Act, the Act on the Central Aliens Register, the Nationality Act) have also been amended. The Act to Implement Residence- and Asylum-Related Directives of the European Union (EU-Directives Implementation Act), which went into force on 28 August 2007, has once again amended these acts.

The package that the Council adopted consists of a Directive which sets out a specific procedure for admitting third country nationals for the purposes of scientific research, and a Recommendation addressed to Member States with a view to facilitating the admission of researchers from third countries. A further recommendation aimed at facilitating the issuing of visas was adopted already in September.