Protection of fundamental rights and the fundamental rights strategy
1. The Agency shall guarantee the protection of fundamental rights in the performance of its tasks under this Regulation in accordance with relevant Union law, including the Charter, and relevant international law, in particular the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951, as amended by the New York Protocol of 31 January 1967.
2. The best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration when applying this Regulation.
3. The Agency shall, on a proposal of the fundamental rights officer, adopt and implement a fundamental rights strategy to ensure respect for fundamental rights in all the Agency’s activities.
Code of conduct
The Agency shall develop, adopt and implement a code of conduct applicable to all experts participating in asylum support teams. The code of conduct shall lay down procedures intended to guarantee the principles of the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights with a particular focus on children, unaccompanied minors and other persons in a vulnerable situation.
Legal status
1. The Agency shall be an agency of the Union. The Agency shall have legal personality.
2. In each of the Member States, the Agency shall enjoy the most extensive legal capacity accorded to legal persons under their laws. The Agency may, in particular, acquire and dispose of movable and immovable property and be a party to legal proceedings.
3. The Agency shall be independent as regards operational and technical matters.
4. The Agency shall be represented by its Executive Director.
5. The seat of the Agency shall be Malta.
Staff
1. The Staff Regulations, the Conditions of Employment and the rules adopted by agreement between the institutions of the Union for giving effect to the Staff Regulations and the Conditions of Employment shall apply to the Agency’s staff.
2. The Management Board shall adopt appropriate implementing rules for giving effect to the Staff Regulations and the Conditions of Employment pursuant to Article 110 of the Staff Regulations.
3. The Agency shall exercise the appointing authority powers in respect of its own staff.
4. The Agency may make use of seconded national experts or other staff not employed by it. The Management Board shall adopt a decision laying down rules on the secondment of national experts to the Agency.
5. The Agency may employ staff to work in the field in Member States.
Privileges and immunities
Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union annexed to the TEU and to the TFEU shall apply to the Agency and its staff.
Language arrangements
1. Council Regulation No 1 ( 27 ) shall apply to the Agency.
2. Without prejudice to decisions taken on the basis of Article 342 TFEU, the consolidated annual report on the Agency’s activities and programming documents as referred to in Article 42 shall be produced in all official languages of the institutions of the Union.
3. The Translation Centre of the bodies of the European Union shall provide the translation services required for the functioning of the Agency.
Transparency
1. Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 shall apply to documents held by the Agency.
2. The Agency may communicate on its own initiative on matters falling within the scope of its tasks. The Agency shall make public the consolidated annual report on the Agency’s activities and ensure, in particular, that the public and any interested party are rapidly given objective, reliable and easily understandable information with regard to its work.
3. The Management Board shall, within 6 months of the date of its first meeting, adopt detailed rules for the application of paragraphs 1 and 2.
4. Any natural or legal person shall be entitled to address the Agency in writing in any official language of the institutions of the Union. He or she shall have the right to receive an answer in the same language.
5. Decisions taken by the Agency pursuant to Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 may give rise to a complaint being lodged with the European Ombudsman or an action before the CJEU, under the conditions laid down in Articles 228 and 263 TFEU respectively.
Combating fraud
1. In order to combat fraud, corruption and other unlawful activities Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 shall apply without restriction. The Agency shall accede to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 25 May 1999 concerning internal investigations by OLAF and adopt appropriate provisions applicable to all the employees of the Agency using the template set out in the Annex to that Agreement.
2. The Court of Auditors shall have the power of audit, on the basis of documents and on-the-spot checks and inspections, over all grant beneficiaries, contractors and subcontractors who have received Union funds from the Agency.
3. OLAF may carry out investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections in accordance with the provisions and procedures laid down in Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 and Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 ( 28 ) with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union in connection with a grant agreement or grant decision or a contract funded by the Agency.
4. Without prejudice to paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, working arrangements with third countries and international organisations, contracts, grant agreements and grant decisions of the Agency shall contain provisions expressly empowering the Court of Auditors and OLAF to conduct such audits and investigations, in accordance with their respective competences.
Security rules on the protection of classified information and sensitive non-classified information
1. The Agency shall apply the Commission’s rules on security as set out in Commission Decisions (EU, Euratom) 2015/443 ( 29 ) and (EU, Euratom) 2015/444. Those rules shall apply, in particular, to the exchange, processing and storage of classified information.
2. The Agency shall apply the security principles relating to the processing of non-classified sensitive information as set out in Decisions (EU, Euratom) 2015/443 and (EU, Euratom) 2015/444 and as implemented by the Commission. The Management Board shall establish measures for the application of those security principles.
3. Classification shall not preclude information from being made available to the European Parliament. The transmission and handling of information and documents transmitted to the European Parliament in accordance with this Regulation shall comply with the rules concerning the forwarding and handling of classified information which are applicable between the European Parliament and the Commission.
Liability
1. The Agency’s contractual liability shall be governed by the law applicable to the contract in question.
2. The CJEU shall have jurisdiction to give judgment pursuant to any arbitration clause contained in a contract concluded by the Agency.
3. In the case of non-contractual liability, the Agency shall, in accordance with the general principles common to the laws of the Member States, make good any damage caused by its departments or by its staff in the performance of their duties.
4. The CJEU shall have jurisdiction in disputes over compensation for damages referred to in paragraph 3.
5. The personal liability of the Agency’s staff towards it shall be governed by the provisions of the Staff Regulations or Conditions of Employment applicable to them.
Administrative monitoring
The activities of the Agency shall be subject to the inquiries of the European Ombudsman in accordance with Article 228 TFEU.
Headquarters agreement and operating conditions
1. The necessary arrangements concerning the accommodation to be provided to the Agency in the Member State in which the Agency has its seat, the facilities to be made available by that Member State and the specific rules applicable in that Member State to members of the Management Board, Agency staff and members of their families shall be laid down in a Headquarters Agreement between the Agency and that Member State. The Headquarters Agreement shall be concluded after obtaining the approval of the Management Board.
2. The Member State in which the Agency has its seat shall provide the Agency with the conditions necessary to ensure its proper functioning, including multilingual, European-oriented schooling and appropriate transport connections.
Annual report on the situation of asylum in the Union
The Agency shall draw up an annual report on the situation of asylum in the Union. The Agency shall transmit that report to the Management Board, to the European Parliament, to the Council and to the Commission, and the Executive Director shall present it to the European Parliament. The annual report on the situation of asylum in the Union shall be made public.
Evaluation and review
1. Three months following the replacement of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013, the Commission shall report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the results of its evaluation of whether this Regulation needs to be amended for the purpose of ensuring the coherence and internal consistency of the Union legal framework, in particular as regards the provisions on the monitoring mechanism referred to in Article 14, and shall present the necessary proposals to amend this Regulation, as appropriate.
2. By 20 January 2025, and every 5 years thereafter, the Commission shall commission an independent external evaluation to assess, in particular, the Agency’s performance in relation to its objectives, mandate and tasks. That evaluation shall cover the Agency’s impact on practical cooperation on asylum-related matters and on facilitating the implementation of the CEAS. The evaluation shall take due regard of progress made within the Agency’s mandate, including an assessment of whether additional measures are necessary to ensure effective solidarity and sharing of responsibilities with Member States subject to particular pressure.
The evaluation referred to in the first subparagraph shall, in particular, address the possible need to modify the mandate of the Agency and the financial implications of any such modification. It shall also examine whether the management structure is appropriate for carrying out the Agency’s tasks. The evaluation shall take into account the views of stakeholders at both Union and national level.
3. The Commission shall send the report that is the result of the evaluation referred to in paragraph 2, together with its conclusions on that report, to the European Parliament, to the Council and to the Management Board.
4. On the occasion of every second evaluation referred to in paragraph 2, the Commission shall consider whether continuation of the Agency is justified with regard to its objectives, mandate and tasks, and it may propose that this Regulation be amended accordingly or repealed.
Transitional provision
The Agency shall succeed EASO as regards all ownership, agreements, legal obligations, employment contracts, financial commitments and liabilities. In particular, this Regulation shall not affect the rights and obligations of the staff of EASO whose continuity of career shall be ensured in all respects.
Replacement and repeal
Regulation (EU) No 439/2010 is replaced with regard to the Member States bound by this Regulation. Therefore, Regulation (EU) No 439/2010 is repealed.
With regard to the Member States bound by this Regulation, references to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table set out in Annex II.
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .
Article 2(1), point (q), Article 14 and Article 15(1), (2) and (3) shall apply from 31 December 2023, and Article 15(4) to (8) and Article 22 shall apply from the date on which Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 is replaced, unless that Regulation is replaced before 31 December 2023, in which case those provisions shall apply from 31 December 2023.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
