Minh Khoa Vo

Mr. Vo, a Vietnamese national residing in Germany, has been found guilty of the offence of human smuggling in that he secured the entry into Germany territory of third country nationals holding visas obtained by fraud.

Mr. Vo brought an appeal claiming an infringement of substantive law as the smuggled persons were formally in possession of visas and did not enter illegally into the territory of Germany. The appeal judge decided to refer the case to the Court of Justice wondering whether the criminal liability of Mr. Vo should not be engaged until the visas in cause have been annulled according to the procedure set up in the Visa Code.

The Court concludes that "Articles 21 and 34 of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas (Visa Code) are to be interpreted as meaning that they do not preclude national provisions under which assisting illegal immigration constitutes an offence subject to criminal penalties in cases where the persons smuggled, third‑country nationals, hold visas which they obtained fraudulently by deceiving the competent authorities of the Member State of issue as to the true purpose of their journey, without prior annulment of those visas".