Title	LH v Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid
Publisher	European Union: Court of Justice of the European Union
Publication Date	10 June 2021
Country	Afghanistan | Netherlands
Topics	Credibility assessment | Refugee status determination (RSD) / Asylum procedures
Citation / Document Symbol	ECLI:EU:C:2021:478
Cite as	LH v Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid, ECLI:EU:C:2021:478, European Union: Court of Justice of the European Union, 10 June 2021, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,ECJ,60db07ee4.html [accessed 19 May 2023]
Comments	On those grounds, the Court (Third Chamber) hereby rules: 1. Article 40(2) of Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection, read in conjunction with Article 4(2) of Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation under which any document submitted by an applicant for international protection in support of a subsequent application is automatically considered not to constitute a ‘new element or finding’, within the meaning of that provision, when the authenticity of that document cannot be established or its source objectively verified. 2. Article 40 of Directive 2013/32, read in conjunction with Article 4(1) and (2) of Directive 2011/95, must be interpreted as meaning, first, that the assessment of the evidence submitted in support of an application for international protection cannot vary according to whether the application is a first application or a subsequent application and, second, that a Member State is required to cooperate with an applicant for the purpose of assessing the relevant elements of his or her subsequent application, when that applicant submits, in support of that application, documents the authenticity of which cannot be established.
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