The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Thursday that Hungary failed to fulfill its obligations under EU law after adopting legislation that restricts international protection offered to asylum seekers.

The ruling comes after Hungary adopted legislation in 2015 that created transit zones at the Serbian-Hungarian border to apply asylum procedures and created the concept of a “crisis situation caused by mass immigration” in which derogation from general rules would be allowed.

The European Commission subsequently brought an action against Hungary for failure to fulfill its EU obligations by disregarding “the substantive and procedural safeguards provided for” in EU law, restricting access to international protection provided for asylum seekers, and establishing detention zones that asylum seekers could be forcibly deported to.

The ECJ upheld most of the Commission’s action, ruling that Hungary:

1. Did not ensure proper access to apply for international protection in accordance with the Procedure Directive, by making it a “virtual impossibility”
2. Created detention areas under the meaning of the Reception Directive by requiring applicants for international protection to be in a transit zone for the duration of their application
3. Did not allow detainees in the transit zone certain guarantees provided by the Procedure and Reception Directives
4. Failed to fulfil its obligations under the Return Directive by forcibly deporting asylum seekers to the border without any compliance with the procedures and safeguards in the Directive

The ECJ further rejected Hungary’s argument that the noncompliance was justified under Article 72 TFEU due to the migration crisis, because the directives already consider situations where there is increasing demand for international protection.

Hungary must now comply with the ECJ’s judgment in order to comply with EU law.