The Administrative Court in Koblenz ruled that the identity check conducted on a traveler at the Luxembourg-German border was unlawful. The lawsuit filed by the plaintiff, who traveled from Luxembourg to Saarbrücken by line bus in June 2025, stemmed from a suspicion-independent identity check performed by the Federal Police at a rest area on the A8 motorway. He argued that the border controls violated the Schengen Border Code because Germany had not provided sufficient grounds for their reintroduction and extension.
The judges in Koblenz sided with the plaintiff, determining that the identification procedure at the border crossing was illegal. While relevant regulations permit the Federal Police to ascertain a person’s identity to control transnational traffic, this power is only valid if internal border controls have been reintroduced or prolonged in accordance with EU law. However, the Court found that extending internal border controls at the Luxembourg-German border between March 16, 2025, and September 15, 2025, was contrary to EU law.
Article 25 of the Schengen Border Code stipulates that a member state can reintroduce or extend internal border controls only under exceptional circumstances, specifically when public order or internal security is seriously threatened. The plaintiff argued that the opposing party had overstepped its assessment rights by failing to base its judgment on sufficiently solid facts regarding the threat level. Furthermore, the Court noted that the state did not adequately document that a sudden development necessitated an extension of these controls. The ruling has been appealed to the Regional Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate.
