Analogous interim decrees (Article 35-bis(3), (4) and (5) of Legislative Decree 25/2008) · N.R.G. 15068-1/2026 e 15108-1/2026
Unofficial translation of the SOS Patto summary. The original decision or document is available in Italian only.
Headnote
The vulnerability indicated in the screening form — membership of the vulnerable groups as a “person who has been subjected to other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence” or a “person in need of medical care” — requires the determining authority, before and during the border procedure, to assess whether the applicant needs special procedural guarantees (Articles 20 and 21(2) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1348) and, if so, to cease applying the procedure under Article 53(2), points (b) to (d), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 where the necessary support cannot be provided in the locations referred to in Article 54 or where there are significant medical grounds. There is no automatic link between vulnerability and prohibition, but the nature and causes of the vulnerability indicated must be reconsidered at the interview; where that check is missing — and the decision of the head of the Commission contradicts the findings of the screening — the border procedure could not have continued and the application must be referred back to the ordinary procedure. Recalling Court of Cassation, Joint Chambers, no. 11399/2024, automatic suspension is the general rule safeguarding the effectiveness of protection (Articles 6 and 13 ECHR, Article 47 of the Charter and Article 46 of Directive 2013/32/EU), and the cases of derogation are exhaustive: the contested decision is automatically suspended under Article 35-bis of Legislative Decree 25/2008 and the applicant’s right to remain on the territory is declared.
Two decrees of the Tribunal of Bologna, twins in structure and adopted on the same day, one by judge Dr Angela Baraldi (R.G. 15068-1/2026, Tunisian national), the other by judge Dr Rada V. Scifo (R.G. 15108-1/2026). The applicants, represented by Avv. Andrea Bassi, had undergone screening in Agrigento and had been transferred to the C.A.S. (reception centre) in the province of Ferrara for the border procedure initiated by the Territorial Commission of Bologna, which rejected the application as manifestly unfounded under Article 39(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 by reason of Article 42(1), point (j).
The two decrees start from a common fact: the screening form indicated a specific vulnerability — in the first case membership of the group "person who has been subjected to other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence", in the second the "need for a specialist examination" and for access to "healthcare" — but the decision of the head of the Commission in the border procedure reproduced a standard formula stating that there were no "signs of vulnerability", "contradicting the result of the screening".
Recalling recital 17 and the desirability affirmed in recital 20, the decrees apply Articles 20 and 21 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1348: the assessment of special procedural guarantees is preliminary and, if positive, requires that the accelerated or border procedure not be applied — or cease to be applied — especially for victims of torture, rape or violence. Article 53(2), points (b), (c) and (d), reinforces the mechanism as regards the location of the procedure (Article 54), procedural support and "significant medical grounds". There is no automatic link, but the Commission "should have, faced with an applicant who is a person in need of medical care, examined in depth the nature of that need and its causes"; having failed to reconsider "entails the necessary referral back to the ordinary procedure".
Recalling the Joint Chambers, no. 11399/2024, the decrees transpose to the post-Pact regime the principle that automatic suspension is the general rule (Articles 6 and 13 ECHR, Article 47 of the Charter, Article 46 of Directive 2013/32/EU): derogations "are to be regarded as wholly exceptional and exhaustive", and the Regulation itself makes the loss of the right to remain conditional on the lawful application of the accelerated or border procedure (Article 68(3)). Both operative parts declare the automatic suspension and declare the right to remain for the duration of the proceedings, in the line already traced by Trib. Bologna 15588/2026.
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