57Thus, Article 3(2) of Regulation No 343/2003 (the ‘sovereignty’ clause) and Article 15(1) of that regulation (the humanitarian clause) are designed to maintain the prerogatives of the Member States in the exercise of the right to grant asylum, irrespective of the Member State responsible for the examination of an application on the basis of the criteria set out in that regulation. These are optional provisions which grant a wide discretionary power to Member States (see, to that effect, N.S. and Others, paragraph 65, and Case C‑245/11 K [2012] ECR, paragraph 27).
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