73The fact remains that, while the first paragraph of Article 52 of Directive 2013/32 authorised Member States to apply those provisions to applications for international protection lodged before 20 July 2015, it did not require them to do so. Since that provision, by using the words ‘started after 20 July 2015 or an earlier date’, offers various possibilities as regards temporal applicability, it is important, in order for the principles of legal certainty and equality before the law to be observed in the implementation of EU law and for applicants for international protection to be protected from arbitrariness and to have a right to an effective remedy in the context of procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection, that each Member State bound by that directive should process applications for international protection lodged within the same period on its territory in a predictable and uniform manner.
Source: EUR-Lex, © European Union, 1998-2026. Reuse authorised under Decision 2011/833/EU.