European Asylum Support Office An Introduction to the Common European Asylum System for Courts and Tribunals A Judicial Analysis Produced by the International Association of Refugee Law Judges European Chapter under contract to EASO August 2016 SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION EASO Professional Development Series for Members of Courts and Tribunals European Asylum Support Office An Introduction to the Common European Asylum System for Courts and Tribunals A Judicial Analysis Produced by the International Association of Refugee Law Judges European Chapter under contract to EASO August 2016 SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union. Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) Certain mobile telephone operators do not allow access to 00800 numbers or these calls may be billed. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu). ISBN 978-92-9243-863-0 doi:10.2847/695557 © European Asylum Support Office 2016 Neither EASO nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained herein. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN ASYLUM SYSTEM FOR COURTS AND TRIBUNALS — 3 European Asylum Support Office The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) is an agency of the European Union that plays a key role in the concrete development of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). It was established with the aim of enhancing practical cooperation on asylum matters and helping Member States fulfil their European and international obligations to give protection to people in need. Article 6 of the EASO founding regulation (*) (hereinafter the Regulation) specifies that the agency shall establish and develop training available to members of courts and tribunals in the Member States. For this purpose, EASO shall take advantage of the expertise of academic institutions and other relevant organisations and take into account the Union’s existing coop- eration in the field with full respect to the independence of national courts and tribunals. The International Association of Refugee Law Judges The International Association of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ) is a transnational, non-profit asso- ciation that seeks to foster recognition that protection from persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group is an indi- vidual right established under international law, and that the determination of refugee status and its cessation should be subject to the rule of law. From its foundation in 1997, the associ- ation has been heavily involved in the training of judges around the world dealing with asylum cases. The European Chapter of the IARLJ (IARLJ- Europe) is the regional representative body for judges within Europe. One of the IARLJ-Europe’s specific objectives under its constitution is ‘to enhance knowledge and skills and to exchange views and experiences of judges on all matters concerning the application and functioning of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS)’. Contributors This analysis has been developed by a process with two components: an editorial team (ET) of judges with overall responsibility for the final product and a drafting team of experts. (*) Regulation (EU) No 439/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 establishing a European Asylum Support Office, OJ L 132/11, 29.5.2010, pp. 11-28. 4 — AN INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN ASYLUM SYSTEM FOR COURTS AND TRIBUNALS In order to ensure the integrity of the principle of judicial independence and that the EASO professional development series for members of courts and tribunals is developed and deliv- ered under judicial guidance, an ET composed of serving judges with extensive experience and expertise in the field of asylum law was selected under the auspices of a Joint Monitoring Group (JMG). The JMG is composed of representatives of the contracting parties, EASO and IARLJ-Europe. The ET reviewed drafts, gave detailed instructions to the drafting team, drafted amendments, and was the final decision-making body as to the scope, structure, content and design of the work. The work of the ET was undertaken through a combination of face-to-face meetings in Berlin in May 2015 and in Luxembourg in November 2015 as well as regular elec- tronic/telephone communication. Editorial team of judges The members of the ET were judges Hugo Storey (United Kingdom, Chair), Jakub Camrda (Czech Republic), Jacek Chlebny (Poland), Katelijne Declerck (Belgium), Harald Dörig (Ger- many), Florence Malvasio (France), Judith Putzer (Austria), Liesbeth Steendijk (Netherlands), Boštjan Zalar (Slovenia) and (alternate judge) Johan Berg (Norway). The ET was supported and assisted in its task by Project Coordination ManagerClara Odofin. Drafting team of experts The drafting team consisted of lead expert Judge John Barnes (United Kingdom, retired), Dr María-Teresa Gil-Bazo (Newcastle University; fellow of the European Law Institute, Vienna; and a member of the Spanish Bar Council) and Dr Céline Bauloz (Global Migration Centre, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva). Acknowledgements Comments on the draft were received from Judge Lars Bay Larsen of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and Judge Ledi Bianku of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in their personal capacities. Carole Simone Dahan (Senior Legal Adviser, Judicial Engagement) and Cornelis (Kees) Wouters (Senior Refugee Law Adviser, Division of International Protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) also expressed their views on the draft text. Comments were also received from the following participants in the EASO network of court and tribunal members and from members of the EASO consultative forum, namely the Sofia Administrative Court, Bulgaria; the Zagreb Administrative Court, Croatia; theTallinn Court of Appeal, Estonia; the Debrecen Administrative and Labour Court, Hungary; Hana Lupačová of the Refugee Legal Clinic, the Law Faculty of Masaryk University, Czech Republic; and Karine Caunes of the Academy of European Law. All these comments were taken into consideration by the ET in finalising the text for publica- tion. The members of the the ET, the drafting team and EASO are grateful to all those who have made comments, which have been very helpful in finalising this chapter. The methodology adopted for the production of this analysis is set out in Appendix B, pp. 104-105. This chapter will be updated as necessary by EASO in accordance with the methodology for the EASO professional development series for members of courts and tribunals. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMON EUROPEAN ASYLUM SYSTEM FOR COURTS AND TRIBUNALS — 5 Contents European Asylum Support Office ..................................................................................................................... 3 The International Association of Refugee Law Judges ..................................................................................... 3 Contributors ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 List of abbreviations ......................................................................................................................................... 7 Preface .............................................................................................................................................................. 10 Key questions .................................................................................................................................................... 12 Part 1: The legal basis of the CEAS ................................................................................................................... 13 1.1. What is the CEAS? ........................................................................................................................... 13 1.2. Background to the establishment of the CEAS ................................................................................ 13 1.3. The first phase of the CEAS ............................................................................................................. 15 1.4. The second phase of the CEAS ........................................................................................................ 16 Part 2: Overview of the CEAS legislative instruments ..................................................................................... 24 2.1. EU primary law ................................................................................................................................ 24 2.1.1. The TFEU ........................................................................................................................... 24 2.1.2. The TEU ............................................................................................................................. 27 2.1.3. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union ............................................. 28 2.1.4. Protocol No 24 .................................................................................................................. 33 2.1.5. Protocol No 30 .................................................................................................................. 33 2.2. CEAS secondary legislation .............................................................................................................