#62023CJ0767CJEU Grand Chamber Ruling on Duty to Refer (Case C-767/23): National Last-Instance Courts Must Give Reasoned Refusals for Preliminary References

The Court of Justice of the EU (Grand Chamber) issued a landmark ruling on 24 March 2026 in Case C-767/23 (A.M. v Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid) clarifying the scope of the obligation under Article 267 TFEU for national courts of last instance to refer questions of EU law to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling. The judgment addresses when and how national courts may rely on the established exceptions to that obligation — namely the 'acte clair' and 'acte éclairé' doctrines from the CILFIT case law. Critically, the Court ruled that even when national legislation permits last-instance courts to dismiss cases by means of a summary or abbreviated statement of reasons, those courts remain bound by the full obligations of Article 267 TFEU. They must explicitly reason their refusal to make a preliminary reference, demonstrating which specific exception applies and why it is satisfied in the concrete case at hand. The case arose from Dutch asylum proceedings where the Netherlands' Raad van State (Council of State) dismissed an appeal using a summary reasoning procedure without explaining why no reference to the CJEU was necessary. The Grand Chamber found this practice to be incompatible with EU law where EU law issues are raised. This ruling significantly constrains national procedural autonomy in appellate systems across all 27 EU member states, requiring courts to be transparent and specific — not merely formulaic — when declining to engage the CJEU's preliminary ruling mechanism.

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