European Union Agency for Asylum

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EU) 2021/2303 on the European Union Agency for Asylum

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

It aims to improve the application of asylum policy within the European Union (EU), by turning the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) into a fully-fledged EU agency.
Regulation (EU) 2021/2303 repeals Regulation (EU) No 439/2010, which covered EASO.

KEY POINTS

Objectives

The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) has several objectives:

to help ensure that EU asylum law is applied effectively and uniformly in EU Member States and in a way that fully respects fundamental rights;
to assist and support Member States in implementing the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) to prevent or identify weaknesses in national asylum and reception systems, in particular by providing operational and technical assistance;
to improve the functioning of the CEAS;
to ensure a common high-level application of CEAS standards through training of national asylum and reception officials.

Tasks

In pursuit of these objectives, the regulation sets the EUAA a number of specific tasks, including to:

assist Member States with receiving and registering applications for international protection;
assist with the relocation or transfer of applicants or beneficiaries of international protection within the EU;
set up and coordinate EU networks on non-EU country information;
assist Member States in identifying applicants requiring special procedural guarantees or those with special reception needs, or other persons in vulnerable situations, including unaccompanied minors.

Organisation and structure

To carry out these tasks the regulation also sets out mechanisms, systems and procedures enabling the EUAA to assist Member States in covering various aspects of asylum policy:

practical cooperation and information on asylum – includes information gathering and analysis, and the exchange of information between Member States, and between Member States and the European Commission;
country information and guidance – includes setting up an EU network on non-EU country information;
operational standards and guidance – the agency will set operational standards, indicators, guidelines and best practices;
monitoring – the agency will prepare the establishment of a monitoring mechanism to assess how the CEAS is being applied from technical and operational perspectives;
operational and technical assistance – such as organising joint initiatives between Member States to process asylum applications and setting up a permanent asylum reserve pool of at least 500 experts who could be deployed immediately;
establishing the role of an independent fundamental rights officer to ensure that the rights of asylum applicants are safeguarded;
information exchange and data protection – includes ensuring the exchange of information between Member States, the Commission and other EU bodies and agencies;
organisation of the agency – includes the administrative and management structure and the composition of the Management Board.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

It has applied since 19 January 2022.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

European Union Agency for Asylum.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Regulation (EU) 2021/2303 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2021 on the European Union Agency for Asylum and repealing Regulation (EU) No 439/2010 (OJ L 468, 30.12.2021, pp. 1–54).

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