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1. A third country may only be designated as a safe third country where in that country:

(a) non-nationals’ life and liberty are not threatened on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion;

(b) non-nationals face no real risk of serious harm as defined in Article 15 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1347;

(c) non-nationals are protected against refoulement in accordance with the Geneva Convention and against removal in violation of the right to protection from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as laid down in international law;

(d) the possibility exists to request and, where conditions are fulfilled, receive effective protection as defined in Article 57.

2. The designation of a third country as a safe third country both at Union and national level may be made with exceptions for specific parts of its territory or clearly identifiable categories of persons.

3. The assessment of whether a third country may be designated as a safe third country in accordance with this Regulation shall be based on a range of relevant and available sources of information, including information from Member States, the Asylum Agency, the European External Action Service, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Council of Europe and other relevant international organisations.

4. The concept of safe third country may be applied:

(a) where a third country has been designated as safe third country at Union or national level in accordance with Article 60 or 64; or (b) in relation to a specific applicant where the country has not been designated as safe third country at Union or national level, provided that the conditions set out in paragraph 1 are met with regard to that applicant.

5. The concept of safe third country may only be applied provided that:

(a) the applicant cannot provide elements justifying why the concept of safe third country is not applicable to him or her, in the framework of an individual assessment;

(b) there is a connection between the applicant and the third country in question on the basis of which it would be reasonable for him or her to go to that country.

6. A third country may only be considered to be a safe third country for an unaccompanied minor where it is not contrary to his or her best interests and where the authorities of Member States have first received from the authorities of the third country in question the assurance that the unaccompanied minor will be taken in charge by those authorities and that he or she will immediately have access to effective protection as defined in Article 57.

7. Where the Union and a third country have jointly come to an agreement pursuant to Article 218 TFEU that migrants admitted under that agreement will be protected in accordance with the relevant international standards and in full respect of the principle of non-refoulement, the conditions of this Article regarding safe third-country status may be presumed fulfilled without prejudice to paragraphs 5 and 6.

8. Where an application is rejected as inadmissible as a result of the application of the concept of safe third country, the determining authority shall:

(a) inform the applicant in accordance with Article 36; and (b) provide him or her with a document informing the authorities of the third country in question, in the language of that country, that the application has not been examined in substance as a consequence of the application of the concept of safe third country.

9. Where the third country in question does not admit or readmit the applicant to its territory, the applicant shall have access to the procedure in accordance with the basic principles and guarantees provided for in Chapter II and in Section I of Chapter III.