Decisions on applications
1. A decision on an application for international protection shall be given in writing and it shall be notified to the applicant as soon as possible in accordance with the national law of the Member State concerned. Where a representative or legal adviser legally represents the applicant, the competent authority may notify the decision to him or her instead of the applicant.
2. Where an application is rejected as inadmissible, as unfounded or as manifestly unfounded with regard to refugee status or subsidiary protection status, as explicitly withdrawn or as implicitly withdrawn, the reasons in fact and in law for the rejection shall be stated in the decision.
3. The applicant shall be informed, in writing, of the result of the decision and of how to challenge a decision rejecting an application as inadmissible, as unfounded or as manifestly unfounded with regard to refugee status or subsidiary protection status, or as implicitly withdrawn. That information may be provided as part of the decision on an application for international protection. Where the applicant is not assisted by a legal adviser, that information shall be provided in a language that the applicant understands or is reasonably supposed to understand.
4. Where the applicant is assisted by a legal adviser who legally represents the applicant, the information referred to in paragraph 3 may be provided solely to that legal adviser without being translated into a language which the applicant understands or is reasonably supposed to understand. In such a case, the fact of whether or not international protection is granted shall be communicated, in writing, for information to the applicant in a language which he or she understands or is reasonably supposed to understand, together with general information on how to challenge the decision.
5. In the case of applications on behalf of minors or dependent adults and where the applications are all based on the exact same grounds as the application of the adult responsible for that minor or dependent adult, the determining authority may, following an individual assessment for each applicant, take a single decision covering all applicants, unless to do so would lead to the disclosure of particular circumstances of an applicant which could jeopardise his or her interests, in particular in cases involving gender-based violence, trafficking in human beings, and persecution based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or age. In such cases, a separate decision shall be issued and notified to the person concerned in accordance with paragraph 1.
Rejection of an application and issuance of a return decision
Where an application is rejected as inadmissible, unfounded or manifestly unfounded with regard to both refugee status and subsidiary protection status, or as implicitly or explicitly withdrawn, Member States shall issue a return decision that respects Directive 2008/115/EC and that is in accordance with the principle of non-refoulement. Where a return decision or another decision imposing the obligation to return has already been issued prior to the making of an application for international protection, the return decision under this Article is not required. The return decision shall be issued as part of the decision rejecting the application for international protection or in a separate act. Where the return decision is issued as a separate act, it shall be issued at the same time and together with the decision rejecting the application for international protection or without undue delay thereafter.
Decision on the admissibility of the application
1. The determining authority may assess the admissibility of an application, in accordance with the basic principles and guarantees provided for in Chapter II, and may be authorised under national law to reject an application as inadmissible where any of the following grounds applies:
(a)
a country which is not a Member State is considered to be a first country of asylum for the applicant pursuant to Article 58, unless it is clear that the applicant will not be admitted or readmitted to that country;
(b)
a country which is not a Member State is considered to be a safe third country for the applicant pursuant to Article 59, unless it is clear that the applicant will not be admitted or readmitted to that country;
(c)
a Member State other than the Member State examining the application has granted the applicant international protection;
(d)
an international criminal court or tribunal has provided safe relocation for the applicant to a Member State or third country, or is unequivocally undertaking actions to that extent, unless new relevant circumstances have arisen which have not been taken into account by the court or tribunal or where there was no legal possibility to raise circumstances relevant to internationally recognised human rights standards before that international criminal court or tribunal;
(e)
the applicant concerned was issued with a return decision in accordance with Article 6 of Directive 2008/115/EC and made his or her application only after seven working days from the date on which the applicant received that return decision, provided that he or she had been informed of the consequences of not making an application within that time limit and that no new relevant elements have arisen since the end of that period.
2. The determining authority shall reject an application as inadmissible where the application is a subsequent application where no new relevant elements as referred to in Article 55(3) and (5) relating to the examination of whether the applicant qualifies as a beneficiary of international protection in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2024/1347 or relating to the inadmissibility ground previously applied, have arisen or have been presented by the applicant.
Decision on the merits of an application
1. An application shall not be examined on the merits where:
(a)
another Member State is responsible in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2024/1351;
(b)
an application is rejected as inadmissible in accordance with Article 38 or;
(c)
an application is explicitly or implicitly withdrawn, without prejudice to Article 40(2) and Article 41(5).
2. When examining an application on the merits, the determining authority shall take a decision on whether the applicant qualifies as a refugee and, if not, it shall determine whether the applicant is eligible for subsidiary protection in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2024/1347.
3. The determining authority shall reject an application as unfounded where it has established that the applicant does not qualify for international protection pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2024/1347.
4. The determining authority may be authorised under national law to declare an unfounded application to be manifestly unfounded if, at the time of the conclusion of examination, any of the circumstances referred to in Article 42(1) and (3) apply.
Explicit withdrawal of applications
1. An applicant may, of his or her own motion and at any time during the procedure, withdraw his or her application. The application shall be withdrawn in writing by the applicant in person or delivered by his or her legal adviser legally representing the applicant in accordance with national law.
2. The competent authorities shall, at the time of the withdrawal of the application, inform the applicant in accordance with Article 8(2), point (c), of all procedural consequences of such a withdrawal in a language he or she understands or is reasonably supposed to understand.
3. Where the explicit withdrawal takes place before a competent authority other than the determining authority, that authority shall inform the determining authority of such withdrawal. The determining authority shall adopt a decision declaring that the application has been explicitly withdrawn. That decision shall be final and shall not be subject to an appeal as referred to in Chapter V of this Regulation.
4. Where, at the stage that the application is explicitly withdrawn by the applicant, the determining authority has already found that the applicant does not qualify for international protection pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2024/1347, it may still take a decision to reject the application as unfounded or manifestly unfounded.
Implicit withdrawal of applications
1. An application shall be declared as implicitly withdrawn where:
(a)
the applicant, without good cause, has not lodged his or her application in accordance with Article 28, despite having had an effective opportunity to do so;
(b)
the applicant refuses to cooperate by not providing the information referred to in Article 27(1), points (a) and (b), or by not providing his or her biometric data;
(c)
the applicant refuses to provide his or her address, where he or she has one, unless housing is provided by the competent authorities;
(d)
the applicant has, without justified cause, not attended a personal interview although he or she was required to do so pursuant to Article 13 or, without justified cause, refused to respond to questions during the interview to the extent that the outcome of the interview was not sufficient to take a decision on the merits of the application;
(e)
the applicant has repeatedly not complied with reporting duties imposed on him or her in accordance with Article 9(4) or does not remain available to the competent administrative or judicial authorities, unless he or she can demonstrate that that failure to remain available was owing to specific circumstances beyond his or her control;
(f)
the applicant has lodged the application in a Member State other than the Member State provided for in Article 17(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1351 and does not remain present in that Member State pending the determination of the Member State responsible or the implementation of the transfer procedure, where applicable.
2. Where the authority that assesses whether the application is implicitly withdrawn is a competent authority other than the determining authority and where that authority considers that the application must be considered as such, that authority shall inform the determining authority accordingly. The determining authority shall adopt a decision declaring that the application has been implicitly withdrawn.
3. When the applicant is present, the competent authority shall, at the time of the withdrawal, inform the applicant in accordance with Article 8(2), point (c), of all procedural consequences of such a withdrawal in a language he or she understands or is reasonably supposed to understand.
4. The competent authority may suspend the procedure in order to give the applicant the possibility to justify or rectify omissions or actions as set out in paragraph 1 before a decision declaring the application as implicitly withdrawn is made.
5. An application may be rejected as unfounded or as manifestly unfounded where the determining authority has, at the stage that the application is implicitly withdrawn, already found that the applicant does not qualify for international protection pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2024/1347.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
