In response to a European ruling, the Office of the Refugee Appeals Commissioner (ORAC) has issued new guidelines allowing simultaneous submission of applications for refugee status and subsidiary protection. Regulations on subsidiary protection shall now be amended as a result of the preliminary reference ruling in H. N. v The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Ireland and the Attorney General (the Nawaz case).
As PILA previously reported, on 29 November 2012, the Supreme Court made an order for a reference for preliminary ruling on the question of subsidiary protection to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) under article 267 TFEU. The Fourth Chamber of the CJEU issued its ruling on 8 May 2014 (Case C‑604/12), in relation to the compatibility of national procedural rules – such as Ireland’s requiring separate applications for refugee status and subsidiary protection – with the Qualification Directive (Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004). The CJEU held that a national procedural rule where subsidiary protection is assessed only after refugee status has been refused, is not incompatible with the Qualification Directive on the condition that both applications may be submitted at the same time. Additionally, the national procedural rule may not result in subsidiary protection only being considered after an unreasonable length of time. It is for the Irish courts to decide what counts as ‘unreasonable length of time’ in this regard.
As a result of this ruling, the European Union (Subsidiary Protection) Regulations 2013 (SI No. 426 of 2013) are due for amendment. The regulations, introduced in November 2013, simplified the two different applications, by allowing both to be made through ORAC, rather than requiring applicants for subsidiary protection to go through the Department of Justice. The CJEU ruling now requires amendment to allow submission of both applications at the same time.
In the interim, ORAC has issued new guidelines for the processing of subsidiary protection applications, where the applicants are also applying for Refugee Status. These new guidelines allow people with pending refugee applications to now submit their application for subsidiary protection, if they wish. All new applicants for refugee status may also make a simultaneous application for subsidiary protection.
ORAC and the Department of Justice will update with more information when the new regulations are finalised.
Click here to read the ORAC guidelines.