Select Committee on European Scrutiny Thirtieth Report


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"

Legal base
Document originated15 July 2004
Deposited in Parliament19 July 2004
DepartmentHome Office
Basis of considerationEM of 27 July 2004
Previous Committee ReportNone
To be discussed in CouncilNo date set
Committee's assessmentPolitically important
Committee's decisionCleared

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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