Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 19 March 2019 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation — France) — Préfet des Pyrénées-Orientales v Abdelaziz Arib, Procureur de la République près le tribunal de grande instance de Montpellier, Procureur général près la cour d’appel de Montpellier

(Case C-444/17) ¹

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Area of freedom, security and justice — Border control, asylum and immigration — Regulation (EU) 2016/399 — Article 32 — Temporary reintroduction of border control by a Member State at its internal borders — Illegal entry of a third-country national — Equation of internal borders with external borders — Directive 2008/115/EC — Scope — Article 2(2)(a))

Language of the case: French

Referring court

Cour de cassation

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Préfet des Pyrénées-Orientales

Defendants: Abdelaziz Arib, Procureur de la République près le tribunal de grande instance de Montpellier, Procureur général près la cour d’appel de Montpellier

Operative part of the judgment

Article 2(2)(a) of Directive 2008/115/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on common standards and procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nationals, read in conjunction with Article 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code), must be interpreted as not applying to the situation of an illegally staying third-country national who was apprehended in the immediate vicinity of an internal border of a Member State, even where that Member State has reintroduced border control at that border, pursuant to Article 25 of the regulation, on account of a serious threat to public policy or internal security in that Member State.

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¹ OJ C 330, 2.10.2017.