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(1) A number of substantive changes have been made to Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council . To ensure harmonisation and more convergence in asylum decisions and as regards the content of international protection in order to reduce incentives to move within the Union, to encourage beneficiaries of international protection to remain in the Member State that granted them protection and to ensure equality of treatment of beneficiaries of international protection, that Directive should be repealed and replaced by a Regulation.

(2) A common policy on asylum, including a Common European Asylum System (CEAS) based on the full and inclusive application of the Geneva 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’), is a constituent part of the Union’s objective of establishing progressively an area of freedom, security and justice open to those who, forced by circumstances, legitimately seek protection in the Union. Such a policy should be governed by the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility, including its financial implications, among the Member States. The Geneva Convention is the cornerstone of the international legal regime for the protection of refugees.

(3) The CEAS is based on common standards for asylum procedures, recognition and protection offered at Union level, reception conditions and a system for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection. Notwithstanding progress achieved so far in the progressive development of the CEAS, there are still significant disparities between the Member States in the procedures used, recognition rates, type of protection granted, level of material reception conditions and benefits given to applicants for, and beneficiaries of, international protection. Those divergences could lead to secondary movements and undermine the objective of ensuring that all applicants are equally treated wherever they apply in the Union.

(4) In its communication of 6 April 2016‘Towards a Reform of the Common European Asylum System and Enhancing Legal Avenues to Europe’, the Commission set out its options for improving the CEAS, namely to establish a sustainable and fair system for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection, to reinforce the Eurodac system, to achieve greater convergence in the Union asylum system, to prevent secondary movements within the Union and to transform the European Asylum Support Office into an agency. That communication is in line with calls by the European Council on 18-19 February 2016 to make progress towards reforming the Union's existing framework so as to ensure a humane and efficient asylum policy.

(5) As Article 78(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) calls for a uniform status of asylum and for a well-functioning CEAS, substantial progress should be made regarding the convergence of national asylum systems with special regard to differing recognition rates and type of protection status in the Member States. Moreover, the rights granted to beneficiaries of international protection should be further clarified and harmonised.

(6) A Regulation is therefore necessary to ensure a more consistent level of harmonisation throughout the Union and to provide a higher degree of legal certainty and transparency.

(7) The main objective of this Regulation is, on the one hand, to ensure that Member States apply common criteria for the identification of persons genuinely in need of international protection and, on the other hand, to ensure that a common set of rights is available for beneficiaries of international protection in all Member States.

(8) The further approximation of rules on the recognition and content of refugee status and subsidiary protection status should moreover help to limit the secondary movement of applicants for international protection and beneficiaries of international protection between Member States.

(9) International protection should be granted to third country nationals and stateless persons who fall under the scope of this Regulation and who qualify for international protection. International protection should not be granted to those third country nationals and stateless persons who fall outside the scope of this Regulation. National humanitarian statuses, where granted, should not entail a risk of confusion with international protection.

(10) The provisions of this Regulation on the content of international protection, including the rules to discourage secondary movements, should apply to those who were granted international protection following the positive conclusion of a resettlement or humanitarian admission procedure in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2024/1350 of the European Parliament and of the Council .

(11) This Regulation respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the ‘Charter’) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In particular, this Regulation seeks to ensure full respect for human dignity and the right to asylum of applicants for asylum and their accompanying family members and to promote the application of the provisions of the Charter relating to human dignity, respect for private and family life, freedom of expression and information, the right to education, freedom to choose an occupation and the right to engage in work, freedom to conduct a business, the right to asylum, protection in the event of removal, expulsion or extradition, equality before the law, non-discrimination, the rights of the child, and rights relating to social security, social assistance, and health care. Those provisions should therefore be implemented accordingly.

(12) With regard to the treatment of persons falling within the scope of this Regulation, Member States are bound by obligations under instruments of international law to which they are party, including, in particular, those that prohibit discrimination.

(13) The resources of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1147 of the European Parliament and of the Council , should be used to provide adequate support to Member States in their efforts to implement the standards set by this Regulation, in particular to those Member States which are faced with specific and disproportionate pressure on their asylum systems, due in particular to their geographical or demographic situation. While the general principle of the prohibition of double funding should be respected, Member States should take full advantage, at all levels of governance, of the possibilities offered by funds which are not directly related to asylum and migration policy but which could be used to fund actions in that area.

(14) The European Union Agency for Asylum, established by Regulation (EU) 2021/2303 of the European Parliament and of the Council (the ‘Asylum Agency’), should provide adequate support in the application of this Regulation, in particular by providing, upon the request or with the agreement of the Member State concerned, experts to assist that Member State’s authorities in receiving, registering and examining applications for international protection, and by providing updated information regarding third countries, including country of origin information, and relevant guidelines and tools. When applying this Regulation, Member States’ authorities should take into account operational standards, indicators, guidelines and best practices developed by the Asylum Agency. When assessing applications for international protection, and without prejudice to the case-by-case nature of those assessments, Member States’ authorities should take into account the information, reports, common analysis on the situation in countries of origin and guidance notes developed at Union level by the Asylum Agency and the European networks on third-country information in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/2303.

(15) When applying this Regulation the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration, in accordance with the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In assessing the best interests of the child, Member States’ authorities should, in particular, take due account of the principle of family unity, and the minor’s well-being and social development, linguistic skills, safety and security and the views of that minor with due regard to the minor’s age and maturity.

(16) With a view to safeguarding the best interests of the child and the minor’s general well-being, and in order to encourage continuity in assistance and representation for unaccompanied minors, Member States should seek to ensure, in so far as possible, that the same natural person remains responsible for an unaccompanied minor, including during the asylum procedure and following the granting of international protection.

(17) An adult child should be considered dependent, on the basis of an individual assessment, only in circumstances where that child is unable to support him or herself due to a physical or mental condition linked to a serious non-temporary illness or severe disability.