FantasticSearch

(1) In its conclusions on ‘Taking action to better manage migratory flows’ of 10 October 2014, the Council acknowledged that, while taking into account the efforts carried out by Member States affected by migratory flows, all Member States should give their contribution to resettlement in a fair and balanced manner.

(2) This Regulation is based on the full and inclusive application of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951, as supplemented by the New York Protocol of 31 January 1967 (the ‘Geneva Convention’).

(3) A Union Resettlement and Humanitarian Admission Framework (the ‘Union Framework’) should be established to complement other legal pathways. The Union Framework should offer the most vulnerable third-country nationals or stateless persons in need of international protection access to a durable solution in accordance with Union and national law.

(4) On 19 September 2016, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly urged States to scale up resettlement efforts and envisaged a comprehensive refugee response framework in which States aim to provide resettlement places and other legal pathways on a scale that would enable the annual resettlement needs identified by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to be met. The Global Compact on Refugees adopted by the UN General Assembly on 17 December 2018 provides that voluntary contributions will be sought from States to establish or enlarge the scope, size, and quality of resettlement programmes.

(5) In its communication of 13 May 2015 on a European Agenda on Migration, the Commission set out the need for a common approach to granting protection to displaced persons in need of protection through resettlement.

(8) In its communication of 6 April 2016 entitled ‘Towards a Reform of the Common European Asylum System and Enhancing Legal Avenues to Europe’, the Commission announced that it would set out a proposal for a structured resettlement system framing the Union’s policy on resettlement and providing a common approach to safe and legal arrival to the Union for persons in need of international protection.

(9) In its resolution of 12 April 2016 on the situation in the Mediterranean and the need for a holistic EU approach to migration, the European Parliament underlined the need for a permanent Union-wide resettlement programme which provides resettlement for a meaningful number of refugees, having regard to the overall number of refugees seeking protection in the Union.

(10) On 27 September 2017, the Commission addressed a Recommendation to the Member States on enhancing legal pathways for persons in need of international protection. In response, Member States pledged to offer 50 039 resettlement places.

(11) Building on existing initiatives, and in the context of the existing international architecture, a stable and reliable Union Framework should be established for the admission of third-country nationals or stateless persons who are in need of international protection to be implemented in accordance with a Union Resettlement and Humanitarian Admission Plan (the ‘Union Plan’), which should fully respect Member States’ concrete indications with regard to their commitments.

(14) The common admission procedure should build on the existing resettlement and humanitarian admission experience and standards of the Member States and, if applicable, of the UNHCR.

(15) The admission of family members of third-country nationals or stateless persons who are legally residing in a Member State, or of Union citizens, should be without prejudice to the rights laid down in Council Directive 2003/86/EC , Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council or to national law concerning family reunification. Such admission should therefore focus on the family members who fall outside the scope of those Directives or relevant national law, or who could not be reunited with their families for other reasons.

(16) In order to ensure family unity, all family members in relation to whom a Member State intends to conduct an admission procedure, who are eligible and who do not fall under the grounds for refusal should, as a rule and to the extent possible, be admitted together. Should this not be possible, family members not admitted together should be admitted as soon as possible at a later stage. In the process of determining the parameters of a given family on whom a third-country national or stateless person is dependent, as referred to in this Regulation, Member States should recognise that the extended relations may be the last line of defence for individuals who rely exclusively on the family for survival, psychological support, and emotional care.

(17) Member States should be able to choose in relation to whom to conduct an admission procedure, including on the basis of considerations relating to family composition. When making that choice, Member States should respect the principle of family unity. Member States should be able to require third-country nationals or stateless persons to demonstrate the existence of a family relationship.

(18) The concept of danger to public health is understood as a disease with epidemic potential within the meaning of the International Health Regulations of the World Health Organization.

(19) An admission procedure consists of the following stages: referral, where applicable, identification, registration, assessment and a conclusion on admission, as well as, in the case of resettlement, a decision on granting international protection or, in the case of humanitarian admission, a decision on granting international protection or humanitarian status under national law.

(20) A positive conclusion on admission means that a person in relation to whom an admission procedure has been carried out for the purpose of resettlement or humanitarian admission has been accepted for admission by the Member State that reached that conclusion. A negative conclusion on admission means that such a person has not been accepted for admission by the Member State concerned.

(21) Before granting international protection, a full assessment of the international protection needs of the third-country national or stateless person should be carried out.

(22) In the case of an emergency admission, the assessment of the admission requirements established under this Regulation should be accelerated. Emergency admission should not necessarily be linked to the regions or third countries from which admission is to occur pursuant to this Regulation. All Member States should be encouraged to offer emergency admission places.

(23) An admission procedure should be concluded as soon as possible, while ensuring that Member States have sufficient time for an adequate examination of each case. Member States should make every effort to ensure that a third-country national or stateless person in relation to whom a positive conclusion on admission was reached enters their territory no later than twelve months from the date of that conclusion.

(24) Any personal data of persons granted international protection or a national humanitarian status in accordance with this Regulation should be stored for five years from the date of registration at national level. That five-year period should be considered to be sufficient for the purposes of the admission procedure, given that the majority of such persons will have resided for several years in the Union and will have obtained citizenship of a Member State. Given that third-country nationals or stateless persons who, during the three years before admission, were refused admission to a Member State because there were reasonable grounds for considering that they would be a danger to the community, public policy, security or public health of the Member State examining the admission file or on the ground that an alert has been issued in the Schengen Information System or in a national database of a Member State for the purposes of refusing entry should be refused admission pursuant to this Regulation their data should be stored for a period of three years from the date on which the negative conclusion on admission was reached. Given that third-country nationals who, during the three years before admission, have not given or have withdrawn their consent to be admitted to a particular Member State could be refused admission under the terms of this Regulation, the data should be stored for a period of three years from the date of discontinuation. The storage period should be shorter in certain special situations where there is no need to keep personal data for that length of time. Personal data belonging to a third-country national or to a stateless person should be erased immediately and permanently once that person obtains citizenship of a Member State.

(25) There is no right to request admission or to be admitted by a Member State. Moreover, there is no obligation on Member States to admit a person pursuant to this Regulation.

(26) Resettlement should be the primary type of admission, complemented by humanitarian admission and emergency admission, as appropriate, to address specific circumstances.

(27) The Union Framework should aim to have all Member States contributing to the implementation of the Union Plan and scaling up their resettlement and humanitarian admission efforts with a view to contributing significantly to meeting the Global Resettlement Needs, including emergency cases.

(28) To that end, the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1147 of the European Parliament and of the Council should provide targeted assistance in the form of financial incentives for each person admitted in accordance with the Union Framework, as well as for actions to establish appropriate infrastructure and services for the implementation of the Union Framework.