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(1) The objective of the Union’s policy on asylum is to develop and establish a Common European Asylum System (CEAS) that is consistent with the values and humanitarian tradition of the Union and governed by the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility.

(2) A common policy on asylum based on the full and inclusive application of the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951, as amended by the New York Protocol of 31 January 1967, is a constituent part of the Union’s objective of establishing progressively an area of freedom, security and justice open to third-country nationals or stateless persons who seek international protection in the Union.

(3) The CEAS is based on common minimum standards for procedures for international protection, recognition and protection offered at Union level and for reception conditions, and it establishes a system for determining the Member State responsible for examining applications for international protection. Notwithstanding the progress made on the CEAS, there are still significant disparities between the Member States as regards the granting of international protection and the form that such international protection takes. Those disparities should be addressed by ensuring greater convergence in the assessment of applications for international protection and by guaranteeing a uniform level of application of Union law, based on high protection standards, across the Union.

(4) 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 set out priority areas for structurally improving the CEAS, namely the establishment of a sustainable and fair system for determining the Member State responsible for asylum seekers, the reinforcement of the Eurodac system, the achievement of greater convergence in the Union asylum system, the prevention of secondary movements within the Union and the development of a new mandate for the European Asylum Support Office (EASO). That communication is in line with a call by the European Council on 18 February 2016 to make progress towards reforming the Union’s existing framework so as to ensure a humane, fair and efficient asylum policy. That communication also proposes a way forward in line with the holistic approach to migration set out by the European Parliament in its own-initiative report of 12 April 2016 entitled ‘The situation in the Mediterranean and the need for a holistic EU approach to migration’.

(5) EASO was established by Regulation (EU) No 439/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council , and it took up its responsibilities on 1 February 2011. EASO enhances practical cooperation among Member States on asylum-related matters and assists Member States in implementing their obligations under the CEAS. EASO also provides support to Member States whose asylum and reception systems are under particular pressure. However, its role and function need to be further strengthened so as to not only support practical cooperation among Member States but to reinforce and contribute to ensuring the efficient functioning of the asylum and reception systems of the Member States.

(6) Having regard to the structural weaknesses of the CEAS, which were brought to the fore by the large-scale and uncontrolled arrival of migrants and asylum seekers to the Union, and the need for an efficient, high and uniform level of application of Union law on asylum in the Member States, it is necessary to improve the implementation and functioning of the CEAS by building on the work of EASO and further developing it into a fully-fledged agency. Such an agency should be a centre of expertise on asylum. It should facilitate and improve the functioning of the CEAS by coordinating and strengthening practical cooperation and information exchange on asylum among Member States, by promoting Union and international law on asylum and operational standards in order to ensure a high degree of uniformity based on high protection standards as regards procedures for international protection, reception conditions and the assessment of protection needs across the Union, by enabling genuine and practical solidarity among Member States in order to assist the affected Member States in general and applicants for international protection in particular and in accordance with Article 80 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which stipulates that relevant Union acts are to contain appropriate measures to give effect to the principle of solidarity, in order to apply in a sustainable way the Union rules for determining the Member State responsible for examining applications for international protection and in order to enable convergence in the assessment of applications for international protection across the Union, by monitoring the operational and technical application of the CEAS, by supporting Member States with resettlement and the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council and by providing operational and technical assistance to Member States for the management of their asylum and reception systems, in particular those whose systems are subject to disproportionate pressure.

(7) The tasks of EASO should be expanded, and in order to reflect those changes it should be replaced and succeeded by an agency entitled the European Union Agency for Asylum (the ‘Agency’), with full continuity in all of its activities and procedures.

(8) In order to guarantee that it is independent and that it can carry out its tasks properly, the Agency should be provided with sufficient financial and human resources, including a sufficient number of its own staff to form part of asylum support teams and teams of experts for the monitoring mechanism under this Regulation.

(9) The Agency should work in close cooperation with the national authorities responsible for asylum and immigration and other relevant services, drawing on the capacity and expertise of those authorities and services, and with the Commission. The Member States should cooperate with the Agency to ensure that it is capable of fulfilling its mandate. It is important, for the purposes of this Regulation, that the Agency and the Member States act in good faith and exchange information in a timely and accurate manner. Any provision of statistical data is to respect the technical and methodological specifications laid down in Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council .

(10) The Agency should gather and analyse information on the situation of asylum in the Union and in third countries insofar as it might have an impact on the Union. That gathering and analysis of information should enable the Agency to provide Member States with up-to-date information including on migratory and refugee flows, and to identify possible risks for Member States’ asylum and reception systems. For that purpose, the Agency should work in close collaboration with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, established by Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council .

(11) No personal data should be stored in databases or published on web portals created by the Agency concerning legal developments in the field of asylum, including relevant case law, unless such data have been obtained from sources that are publicly accessible.

(12) The Agency should be able to deploy liaison officers to the Member States to foster cooperation and to act as an interface between the Agency and the national authorities responsible for asylum and immigration and other relevant services. Liaison officers should facilitate communication between the Member State concerned and the Agency and share relevant information from the Agency with the Member State concerned. They should support the collection of information and contribute to promoting the application and implementation of Union law on asylum, including with regard to respect for fundamental rights. Liaison officers should regularly report on the situation of asylum in Member States to the Agency’s Executive Director, and those reports should be taken into account for the purposes of the monitoring mechanism under this Regulation. Where such reports raise concerns about one or more aspects relevant for the Member State concerned, the Executive Director should inform that Member State without delay.

(13) The Agency should provide the necessary support to the Member States in carrying out their tasks and obligations under Regulation (EU) No 604/2013.

(14) As regards resettlement, the Agency should be able to provide the necessary support to Member States at their request. To that end, the Agency should develop and offer expertise in resettlement in order to support actions on resettlement taken by Member States.