15 Asylum procedure
| (25831)
10471/04
COM(04) 503
+ ADD 1
| Commission Communication: "A more efficient common European asylum system: the single procedure as the next step"
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| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 15 July 2004
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| Deposited in Parliament | 19 July 2004
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| Department | Home Office |
| Basis of consideration | EM of 27 July 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Introduction
15.1 In 2003, the Thessaloniki European Council reaffirmed the
importance of establishing a more efficient asylum system within
the EU to identify quickly everyone in need of protection; and
invited the Commission to examine ways to improve the system.[30]
Accordingly, this Communication asks the Council and the European
Parliament to approve the Commission's proposed approach to the
introduction of a single procedure for dealing with applications
for both refugee status and subsidiary protection status.
The existing EU legislation
15.2 Article 63 of the Treaty establishing the European Community
required the Council by 1 May 2004 to adopt measures on asylum
relating to, among other things:
- the criteria and mechanisms for determining which Member State
is responsible for considering an application for asylum made
by a third country national in one of the Member States (the relevant
measure — the Dublin Regulation — was adopted in February
2003);[31]
- minimum standards for the reception of asylum
seekers in Member States (the Council Directive was adopted in
January 2003);[32]
- minimum standards for the qualification and status
of third country nationals and stateless persons as refugees or
as persons who otherwise need international protection (the Qualifications
Directive was adopted in April 2004);[33]
and
- minimum standards for procedures for granting
and withdrawing refugee status (the Council reached political
agreement on the Procedures Directive in April 2004, and the European
Parliament is now being consulted about it).
15.3 The United Kingdom is not bound by measures
adopted under Title IV of the EC Treaty (including those adopted
under Article 63) unless it opts into them. The Government has
opted into all four of the measures listed in the previous paragraph.
The Commission's proposals
15.4 The Communication notes that some Member States,
such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, already have a
single procedure in which the administrative body which decides
whether an applicant for asylum qualifies under the Geneva Convention
as a refugee also considers whether the applicant is entitled
to subsidiary protection on grounds such as fear of torture,
the death penalty, inhuman treatment or for family reasons. The
applicant is not required to make separate applications for different
types of protection; the authority makes one decision either
denying protection or granting it on any of the possible grounds;
and there is a single appeals process.
15.5 Some other Member States have one procedure
for considering applications for refugee status and other procedures
for applications for other types of protection. Yet a third group
of Member States consider some, but not all, grounds through the
procedure they use for applications for refugee status.
15.6 The Commission notes the following as among
the advantages of a single procedure:
- reduction in the time needed
to decide whether protection, on whatever grounds, should be granted;
- avoidance of duplication and so resource savings;
- less uncertainty and complexity for asylum seekers
(no need for multiple applications); and
- speedier return of applicants not entitled to
protection and admission.
The Communication also notes some disadvantages and
mentions, in particular, the risk of "watering down"
the Geneva Convention because authorities might grant applicants
a status less beneficial to them than the one to which they would
be entitled as refugees under the Convention.
15.7 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
and the non-governmental organisations the Commission consulted
before drafting the Communication favour the adoption of a single
procedure.
15.8 The Commission now proposes, therefore, a two-stage
approach:
- A Preparatory Phase in which
the Commission would consult on, and evaluate, the existing procedures
for considering asylum applications and ways to make them quicker
and more efficient. By the end of this year, the Commission will
publish a "One-Stop Shop Action Plan" providing details
of the Preparatory Phase.
- A Legislative Phase: the Commission says:
"legislation should only be brought forward
to address those areas identified by the Preparatory Phase as
suitable and possible and of real benefit to the asylum systems
of EU Member States."[34]
It is too soon to judge, therefore, how much amendment,
if any, will be proposed to the existing Community legislation,
such as the Qualifications and Procedure Directives.
15.9 The Annex to the Communication (ADD 1) includes
a summary of the Commission's study of Member States' procedures
in 2002 for dealing with applications for refugee status and subsidiary
forms of protection; and further information about the aims and
scope of the Preparatory Phase the Commission proposes.
The Government's view
15.10 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
at the Home Office (Caroline Flint) tells us that the Government
endorses the two-stage approach proposed by the Commission because:
"it recognises the need to carefully assess
the impact of existing measures in order to identify the need
for further legislation. Any proposals arising from these initiatives
will need to take into account the needs of Member States to adapt
policies in response to changing asylum situations, and to reflect
different judicial systems present in the Member States."
The Government will consider any proposed new legislation
and decide if it is in the interests of the United Kingdom to
take part in it.
Conclusion
15.11 We share the Minister's view about the need
for a thorough assessment of the effects of the existing EU legislation
before more is proposed. Accordingly, we see no objection to the
two-stage process the Commission advocates. We have no questions
to put to the Minister about the Communication and we now clear
it from scrutiny.
30 Conclusions 26 and 27, Thessaloniki European Council,
19 and 20 June 2003. Back
31
OJ No. L 50, 25.2.03, p. 1. Back
32
OJ No. L 31, 6.2.03, p. 18. Back
33
The Qualifications Directive prescribes criteria for Member States
to use in determining whether an applicant is entitled to "subsidiary
protection". The Directive defines "subsidiary protection"
as a form of international protection, separate from but complementary
to refugee status, granted to third country nationals or stateless
persons who are not refugees but who need international protection
because they have well-founded fears of, for example, torture,
inhuman treatment or severe violation of human rights in their
countries of origin. Back
34
Commission Communication, para 14. Back
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