Case C‑544/15

Sahar Fahimian

v

Bundesrepublik Deutschland

(Request for a preliminary ruling
from the Verwaltungsgericht Berlin)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Area of freedom, security and justice — Directive 2004/114/EC — Article 6(1)(d) — Conditions of admission of third country nationals — Refusal of admission — Concept of ‘threat to public security’ — Margin of discretion)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber), 4 April 2017

Border controls, asylum and immigration — Immigration policy — Admission of third country nationals for the purposes of studies, pupil exchange, unremunerated training or voluntary service — Directive 2004/114 — General conditions of admission — No threat to public policy, public security or public health — Margin of discretion of the competent national authorities — Refusal of admission to a third country national holding a degree from a university which is the subject of EU restrictive measures — Lawfulness — Conditions — Judicial review of the refusal — Conditions

(Council Directive 2004/114, Art. 6)

Article 6(1)(d) of Council Directive 2004/114/EC of 13 December 2004 on the conditions of admission of third-country nationals for the purposes of studies, pupil exchange, unremunerated training or voluntary service must be interpreted as meaning that the competent national authorities, where a third country national has applied to them for a visa for study purposes, have a wide discretion in ascertaining, in the light of all the relevant elements of the situation of that national, whether he represents a threat, if only potential, to public security. That assessment may thus take into account not only the personal conduct of the applicant but also other elements relating, in particular, to his professional career.

That provision must also be interpreted as not precluding the competent national authorities from refusing to admit to the territory of the Member State concerned, for study purposes, a third country national who holds a degree from a university which is the subject of EU restrictive measures because of its large scale involvement with the Iranian Government in military or related fields, and who plans to carry out research in that Member State in a field that is sensitive for public security, if the elements available to those authorities give reason to fear that the knowledge acquired by that person during his research may subsequently be used for purposes contrary to public security. It is for the national court hearing an action brought against the decision of the competent national authorities to refuse to grant the visa sought to ascertain whether that decision is based on sufficient grounds and a sufficiently solid factual basis.

(see paras 40, 50, operative part)