European Asylum Support Offi ce

SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION

BZ-AD-13-001-EN-N

doi10284744820

EASO annual acti vity report 2012

Part II ANNEXES

European Asylum Support Office

SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION

EASO annual activity report 2012

Part II ANNEXES

Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union

Freephone number ()

00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11()ensp The information given is free as are most calls (though some operators phone boxes or

hotels may charge you)

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (httpeuropaeu)

Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication

Luxembourg Publications Office of the European Union 2013

ISBN 978-92-9243-005-4doi10284744820

copy European Asylum Support Office 2013

Neither EASO nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged

European Asylum Support Office

SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION

EASO annual activity report 2012

Part II ANNEXES

Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union

Freephone number ()

00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11()ensp The information given is free as are most calls (though some operators phone boxes or

hotels may charge you)

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (httpeuropaeu)

Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication

Luxembourg Publications Office of the European Union 2013

ISBN 978-92-9243-005-4doi10284744820

copy European Asylum Support Office 2013

Neither EASO nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged

Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union

Freephone number ()

00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11()ensp The information given is free as are most calls (though some operators phone boxes or

hotels may charge you)

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (httpeuropaeu)

Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication

Luxembourg Publications Office of the European Union 2013

ISBN 978-92-9243-005-4doi10284744820

copy European Asylum Support Office 2013

Neither EASO nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged

Contents

5 Annexes 551 EASO progress report 2012 552 Implementation of EASO actions under the Stockholm programme 953 EASO publications in 2012 1154 EASO annual report on access to documents 1155 EASOrsquos final annual accounts for 2012 13

5 A

nnex

es

51

EA

SO p

rogr

ess r

epor

t 201

2

ACTI

VITY

QUA

RTER

1Q

UART

ER 2

QUA

RTER

3Q

UART

ER 4

(1) P

erm

anen

t su

ppor

t

(a)E

ASO

trai

ning

ndashensp

EASO

trai

ning

stra

tegy

ndashenspEA

SO tr

aini

ng se

ssio

nsndashensp

EASO

trai

ning

mod

ules

up

date

dndashensp

othe

r

ndash 2

trai

ning

sess

ions

in

Luxe

mbo

urg

ndash 2

trai

n-th

e-tr

aine

r ses

sions

in

Mal

tandash

2 tr

aini

ng m

odul

es u

pdat

edndash

E-pl

atfo

rm e

valu

atio

n la

unch

ed

ndash EA

SO tr

aini

ng st

rate

gy a

dopt

edndash

6 tr

ain-

the-

trai

ner s

essio

ns in

M

alta

ndash Tr

aini

ng N

CP m

eetin

gndash

Term

s of r

efer

ence

for E

ASO

tr

aini

ng N

CPs a

dopt

edndash

3 tr

aini

ng m

odul

es u

pdat

edndash

Deve

lopm

ent o

f EAS

O tr

aini

ng

cock

pit l

aunc

hed

ndash Tr

ansf

er o

f EAC

serv

ers t

o EA

SO

initi

ated

ndash 1

trai

n-th

e-tr

aine

r ses

sion

in

Gree

cendash

2 tr

ain-

the-

trai

ner s

essio

ns in

M

alta

ndash 3

trai

ning

mod

ules

upd

ated

ndash E-

plat

form

eva

luat

ion

final

ised

ndash EA

SO tr

aini

ng p

lan

2013

and

EAS

O

upda

ting

plan

for t

rain

ing

mod

ules

20

13ndash

4 tr

ain-

the-

trai

ner s

essio

nsndash

EASO

ann

ual d

idac

tic se

min

arndash

Trai

ning

NCP

mee

ting

ndash U

pdat

ed v

ersio

n of

term

s of

refe

renc

e fo

r EAS

O tr

aini

ng a

nd

expe

rt p

ool

ndash An

nual

mee

ting

with

trai

ning

re

fere

nce

grou

pndash

2 tr

aini

ng m

odul

es u

pdat

edndash

Initi

atio

n of

CEA

S m

odul

e de

velo

pmen

tndash

Tran

sfer

of E

AC se

rver

s to

EASO

ndash La

unch

of a

cur

ricul

um fo

r m

embe

rs o

f cou

rts a

nd tr

ibun

als

(b) Q

ualit

y pr

oces

ses

ndashenspQ

ualit

y ex

pert

mee

tings

ndashensp Q

ualit

y re

view

of m

ater

ials

deliv

ered

by

EASO

asy

lum

su

ppor

t tea

ms

ndash De

velo

pmen

t of E

ASO

qua

lity

asse

ssm

ent m

etho

dolo

gy

initi

ated

ndash Ad

viso

ry m

eetin

gs o

n EA

SO

qual

ity a

ctiv

ities

ndash De

velo

pmen

t of E

ASO

qua

lity

asse

ssm

ent m

etho

dolo

gyndash

Colle

ctin

g da

ta o

n pr

ojec

ts

and

initi

ativ

es re

late

d to

qu

ality

ndash De

velo

pmen

t of E

ASO

rese

arch

to

ol fo

r the

qua

lity

asse

ssm

ent

(qua

lity

mat

rix)

ndash La

unch

of E

ASO

rsquos qu

ality

as

sess

men

t app

roac

h an

d to

ols

with

Mem

ber S

tate

s

6 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

ACTI

VITY

QUA

RTER

1Q

UART

ER 2

QUA

RTER

3Q

UART

ER 4

(c) C

ount

ry o

f Orig

in In

form

atio

nndash

COI t

ask

forc

e m

eetin

g (Ja

n)

ndash 4

mee

tings

of C

OI w

orki

ng

part

y

ndash Pu

blic

atio

n of

EAS

O C

OI r

epor

t on

Afg

hani

stan

par

t 1 (J

une)

ndash Pu

blic

atio

n of

CO

I rep

ort o

n m

etho

dolo

gy (J

une)

ndash CO

I tas

k fo

rce

mee

ting

(May

)ndash

3 m

eetin

gs o

f CO

I wor

king

par

ty

ndash CO

I tas

k fo

rce

mee

ting

(Sep

)ndash

3 m

eetin

gs C

OI w

orki

ng p

arty

ndash Pu

blic

atio

n of

EAS

O C

OI r

epor

t on

Afgh

anist

an p

art 2

(Nov

)ndash

2 m

eetin

gs o

f CO

I por

tal w

orki

ng

part

yndash

1 m

eetin

g of

CO

I kno

wle

dge

man

agem

ent w

orki

ng p

arty

(d) E

ASO

list

of a

vaila

ble

lang

uage

s (LA

L)ndash

Man

agem

ent B

oard

dec

ision

on

the

fram

ewor

k fo

r EAS

O

lsquolist

of i

nter

pret

ersrsquo

ndash FP

I (1 ) N

CP m

eetin

g (M

ay)

ndash Es

tabl

ishm

ent o

f EAS

O L

AL

(e) E

ASO

pra

ctic

al c

oope

ratio

n m

eetin

gsndash

Plen

ary

Eura

sil h

and-

over

m

eetin

g (M

ar)

ndash Sy

ria w

orks

hop

(June

) ndash

Syria

wor

ksho

p (A

ug)

ndash Co

nfer

ence

on

lsquoAfg

hani

stan

CO

I an

d be

yond

rsquo (O

ct)

(f) U

nacc

ompa

nied

min

ors (

UM

) ex

pert

mee

tings

ndash La

unch

of E

ASO

que

stio

nnai

re

and

cons

ulta

tion

with

civ

il so

ciet

y on

age

ass

essm

ent

ndash EA

SO c

ontr

ibut

ion

to th

e Co

mm

issio

n m

id-t

erm

repo

rt

actio

n pl

an o

n U

M (2

010ndash

14)

ndash EA

SO in

trod

ucto

ry se

ssio

n on

U

M a

nd a

ge a

sses

smen

t (M

ay)

ndash 2

EASO

exp

ert m

eetin

gs o

n U

Mndash

2 EA

SO e

xper

t mee

tings

on

UM

ndash Dr

aftin

g of

the

EASO

age

as

sess

men

t han

dboo

k co

mm

ence

sndash

EASO

and

Com

miss

ion

deve

lopm

ent o

f que

stio

nnai

re a

nd

wor

k on

fam

ily tr

acin

g be

gins

(2) S

peci

al s

uppo

rt(a

) Tai

lor-m

ade

supp

ort a

nd

capa

city

bui

ldin

gndash

Spec

ial s

uppo

rt fo

r Sw

eden

la

unch

edndash

Spec

ial s

uppo

rt re

ques

t fro

m It

aly

(b) R

eloc

atio

nndash

Fact

-find

ing

and

pres

enta

tion

of re

port

on

relo

catio

n pr

ojec

ts

from

Mal

ta (J

une)

ndash In

form

al jo

int E

ASO

ndashCo

mm

issio

n m

eetin

g w

ith th

e re

leva

nt M

alte

se a

utho

ritie

s on

out

look

for E

urem

a II

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

n of

the

repo

rt in

JH

A Co

unci

l (O

ct)

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

n of

the

repo

rt a

t th

e co

nfer

ence

of t

he E

urop

ean

Mig

ratio

n N

etw

ork

in F

ranc

e (N

ov)

1 (1 ) Fo

cal p

oint

s for

inte

rpre

tatio

n m

atte

rs

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 7

(3) e

mer

genc

y su

ppor

t

(a) A

IP

ndashenspE

valu

atio

n AI

P ndash

enspAIP

mee

ting

ndash AI

P N

CP m

eetin

gndash

Eval

uatio

n an

d pr

opos

als t

o am

end

AIP

prof

iles (

lsquoAIP

20rsquo

) (M

ay)

ndash M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd d

ecisi

on o

n lsquoA

IP 2

0rsquo (J

une)

ndash Re

ques

t for

nom

inat

ions

for

lsquoAIP

20rsquo

(Jul

)ndash

Sett

ing

up lsquoA

IP 2

0rsquo (O

ctndash

Nov

)

(b) I

mpl

emen

ting

oper

atin

g pl

an

for G

reec

endash

10 A

sylu

m S

uppo

rt Te

ams

activ

e in

Gre

ece

ndash 15

Asy

lum

Sup

port

Team

s act

ive

in G

reec

e ndash

10 A

sylu

m S

uppo

rt Te

ams

activ

e in

Gre

ece

ndash 14

Asy

lum

Sup

port

Team

s act

ive

in G

reec

e

(4) I

nfor

mat

ion

and

anal

ysis

sup

port

(a) E

ASO

ann

ual r

epor

tndash

EASO

ann

ual r

epor

t and

act

ivity

re

port

pub

lishe

d (Ju

ne)

ndash Ci

vil s

ocie

ty in

vite

d to

send

co

mm

ents

on

annu

al re

port

(Ju

l)

ndash Br

eak-

out s

essio

ns in

Con

sulta

tive

Foru

m o

n an

nual

repo

rt

(b) E

arly

war

ning

and

Pr

epar

edne

ss S

yste

m

ndashenspp

rese

ntat

ions

on

anal

ysis

ndashenspt

rend

s re

gion

al o

utlo

ok

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

JHA

Co

unci

l IG

C N

urnb

erg

GDI

SC

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

and

in

form

al JH

A Co

unci

l Fr

onte

x

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

qua

rter

ly

repo

rtndash

Wes

tern

Bal

kans

and

Syr

ia a

d ho

c re

port

sndash

Join

t pap

er o

n an

EPS

with

the

Com

miss

ion

as p

er A

rtic

le 3

3 of

th

e Du

blin

regu

latio

n

(5) T

hird

cou

ntry

sup

port

(a) R

eset

tlem

ent

ndash EA

SO re

sett

lem

ent s

emin

ar

(Oct

)(b

) Ext

erna

l dim

ensio

nndash

Part

icip

atio

n in

EU

ndashTun

isia

mob

ility

par

tner

ship

mee

ting

in T

unis

(Mar

)

ndash Pa

rtic

ipat

ion

in th

e Bu

dape

st

proc

ess

ndash Pa

rtic

ipat

ion

in th

e Bu

dape

st

proc

ess

ndash Pa

rtic

ipat

ion

in th

e la

unch

of

Euro

pean

Com

miss

ionndash

Jord

an

nego

tiatio

ns fo

r mob

ility

pa

rtne

rshi

p (D

ec)

8 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

(6) E

ASO

org

anis

atio

n

(a) R

ecru

it up

to 6

1 st

aff i

n EA

SOndash

15 st

aff r

ecru

ited

ndash 6

staf

f rec

ruite

d ndash

7 st

aff r

ecru

ited

ndash 7

staf

f rec

ruite

d

(b) I

mpl

emen

t EAS

O b

udge

t 201

2ndash

Fina

ncia

l ind

epen

denc

endash

Budg

et im

plem

enta

tion

Com

mitm

ent a

ppro

pria

tions

78

ndash

Paym

ent a

ppro

pria

tions

67

(c

) EAS

O M

anag

emen

t Boa

rdndash

EASO

Man

agem

ent B

oard

(F

eb)

ndash EA

SO M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd (J

une)

ndash EA

SO M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd

(Sep

)ndash

EASO

Man

agem

ent B

oard

(Nov

)

(d) M

ove

to th

e EA

SO d

efin

itive

pr

emise

s in

valle

tta

Harb

our

ndash Fi

nalis

atio

n of

gra

nt e

xten

sion

for c

ompl

etin

g th

e w

orks

ndash M

ove

to d

efin

itive

pre

mise

s (S

ep)

ndash Fi

nalis

atio

n w

orks

in d

efin

itive

pr

emise

s (gr

ound

floo

r) (D

ecndash

Ja

n 2

013)

(e) E

ASO

com

mun

icat

ion

stra

tegy

ndash EA

SO c

omm

unic

atio

n st

rate

gy

(June

)(f)

EAS

O w

ebsit

ew

eb p

orta

lndash

Laun

ch o

f tem

pora

ry E

ASO

w

ebsit

e (S

ep)

ndash La

unch

of d

efin

itive

EAS

O w

ebsit

e

(g) E

stab

lish

stro

ng c

oope

ratio

n re

latio

ns w

ith p

artn

ers a

nd

stak

ehol

ders

of E

ASO

ndash EA

SO h

earin

g at

Eur

opea

n Pa

rliam

ent (

LIBE

Com

mitt

ee)

(Jan

)ndash

EASO

join

s the

hea

ds o

f JHA

ag

enci

esrsquo n

etw

ork

and

the

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

(Feb

)ndash

Advi

sory

Com

mitt

ee o

f the

Fr

onte

x Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

(M

ar)

ndash Ad

viso

ry C

omm

ittee

of t

he

Fron

tex

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m

(Apr

)ndash

1st r

ound

of n

egot

iatio

ns w

ith

the

asso

ciat

ed c

ount

ies (

May

)ndash

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

mee

ting

(June

)ndash

Part

icip

atio

n in

EM

N n

atio

nal

cont

act p

oint

s mee

ting

(June

)

ndash Se

nior

man

agem

ent

cons

ulta

tions

bet

wee

n U

NHC

R an

d EA

SO (J

ul)

ndash W

orki

ng a

rran

gem

ent

betw

een

Fron

tex

and

EASO

sig

ned

(Sep

)ndash

2nd

roun

d of

neg

otia

tions

w

ith th

e as

soci

ated

cou

ntrie

s (S

ep)

ndash EA

SO jo

ins t

he In

tera

genc

y Le

gal N

etw

ork

(IALN

) (Se

p)

ndash 1s

t Fro

ntex

Con

sulta

tive

Foru

m

mee

ting

(Oct

)ndash

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

mee

ting

(Oct

)ndash

3rd

roun

d of

neg

otia

tions

with

the

asso

ciat

ed c

ount

ries (

Oct

)ndash

EASO

hea

ring

at E

urop

ean

Parli

amen

t (LI

BE C

omm

ittee

) (N

ov)

ndash St

art o

f neg

otia

tions

on

a w

orki

ng

arra

ngem

ent b

etw

een

EASO

and

UN

HCR

and

betw

een

EASO

and

FRA

ndash JH

A ag

enci

esrsquo m

eetin

g (D

ec)

(h) C

onsu

ltativ

e Fo

rum

Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

co

nsul

tatio

ns w

ith c

ivil

soci

ety

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

UM

tra

inin

gndash

Mee

ting

of th

e EA

SO

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m a

dviso

ry

grou

p (M

ar)

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

trai

ning

EAS

O w

orki

ng

prog

ram

me

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

qual

ity r

eset

tlem

ent

annu

al

repo

rtndash

Mee

ting

of th

e EA

SO

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m a

dviso

ry

grou

p (S

ep)

ndash Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

op

erat

iona

l pla

n pr

esen

ted

to

advi

sory

gro

up (S

ep)

ndash Se

cond

EAS

O C

onsu

ltativ

e Fo

rum

pl

enar

y m

eetin

g (N

ov)

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

rese

ttle

men

t CO

I tr

aini

ng E

PS

annu

al re

port

wor

k pr

ogra

mm

e

qual

ity a

nd U

M

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 9

52 Implementation of EASO actions under the Stockholm programme

In 2010 the European Unionrsquos Stockholm programme was adopted with an action plan for the 3 years from 2010ndash12 (2)

The Stockholm action plan clearly stipulates four priorities to be carried out by EASO

1 development of methods to better identify those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows and to cooperate with Frontex wherever possible

2 further development of a common educational platform for national asylum officials building on the European Asylum Curriculum in particular

3 development of a common methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions4 evaluation and development of procedures for facilitation of the secondment of officials in order to help

those Member States facing particular pressures of asylum seekers flows

The level of implementation by 2012 is given per priority defined for EASO

(1) Development of methods to better identify those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows and to cooperate with Frontex wherever possible

1 Methods of better identifying those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows together with Frontex lie in joint operational support activities to EU Member States and joint training on nation-ality establishment Following a request from Greece Frontex and EASO are currently cooperating in a first joint operation in Greece via the development of common training on nationality establishment for the staff of the first reception service and the asylum service This pilot training is part of the Operating Plan Greece Phase II and was to take place on 29 and 30 April 2013 in Athens (more regional locations to follow) Furthermore the experience gathered through the EASOndashFrontex cooperation will be used as input for other joint operations and for developing methods of better identifying those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows

2 A first joint EASOndashFrontex meeting was held in 2012 in order to develop guidelines for operational co-operation in case of a sudden arrival of mixed flows in Member States A meeting is planned to identify the opportunities in and explore the possibilities for establishing common or mixed teams from the pools with border management and asylum experts (in accordance with Article 3 of the EASOndashFrontex working arrangement of 26 September 2012)

(2) Further develop a common educational platform for national asylum officials building in particular the European Asylum Curriculum

According to its training strategy EASO already has developed a common educational platform for national asy-lum officials with a training curriculum of 13 modules In 2013 a new training module on management will be finalised All the training modules are regularly updated and the quality is ensured by the involvement of a refer-ence group (UNHCR European Commission ECRE Odysseus IARLJ)

The module lsquoEU Asylum Law and Policyrsquo is to be replaced in 2013 by a new module on the CEAS The training cockpit has been conceptualised to allow a clear view and help Member States in their implementation of the curriculum (training of their staff)

EASO training is a continuous process of providing an educational platform to EU Member States as well as a permanent process of updating content and tools to deliver the maximum quality

(2) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament the Council the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions lsquoDelivering an area of freedom security and justice for Europersquos citizens Action plan implementing the Stockholm programmersquo COM(2010) 171 final

10 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

(3) Development of a common methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions

Reducing disparities in asylum decisions also means taking a closer look behind the figures

bull Disparities in recognition rates can only be considered for similar flows For example aggregating a 95 acceptance rate from Syria and a 95 rejection rate from a similarly sized flow from Serbia and the former yugoslav Republic of Macedonia gives a total of 50 recognition but hides the real protection extended to asylum seekers

bull Furthermore the legal regimes used to accord international or national protection may be different between Member States or changed over time by the same Member States in regard to the same flow (eg the current case of Syria) Due to the lack of a common methodology these regime changes occur in a different way across the EU

bull Finally lsquounofficialrsquo practices and policies may be in use and change the interpretation that should be made of the official figures for instance leaving claims pending mdash in effect deciding not to decide mdash or rejecting claims while knowing that returns are impossible

EASO will analyse the data of EU Member States using quantitative and qualitative indicators in order to identify what kind of disparities are actually present before suggesting methodologies for minimising them In this regard EASO held a meeting with Member States on Syria in March 2013 together with the European Commission with the aim of understanding disparities of treatment of asylum cases from Syria This is a first step in reducing the overall disparity in asylum decisions During the meeting Member States were asked how they could improve homogeneity when facing crises such as the Syrian one including what regimes should be used in which circum-stances in the source country what signals could be used to indicate when the regimes used should be changed and what determines the change in acceptance rate over time

Training also contributes to the development of a common methodology on reducing disparities of asylum deci-sions because all asylum caseworkers are trained with the same curriculum and common understanding This has also been noticed by EU Member States for instance Finland remarked that its asylum decision-making is more in line with the CEAS since its staff have been trained via the EASO training sessions and curriculum

The quality matrix gives and will continue to give a clearer view of the situation in Member States on the various aspects of the CEAS It will identify needs and present ways to support Member States With regard to a com-mon methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions best practices and specific common approaches will be presented and discussed amongst all Member States A first thematic will be the lsquopersonal interviewrsquo with a meeting in March 2013 to be followed by other thematic meetings The list of existing initia-tives has already been completed and distributed

(4) Evaluation and development of procedures for facilitation of the secondment of officials in order to help those Member States facing particular pressures of asylum seekers flows

The Asylum Support Teams with experts from Member States deployed in Member States under particular pres-sure due to a high asylum influx are working well and the impact is noticed

An assessment of the Asylum Support Teams was presented at the EASO Management Board meeting in Novem-ber 2012 following a National Contact Point meeting A direct result of the positive evaluation was the addition of more profiles to the Asylum Intervention Pool in order to match more precisely the identified needs

In addition the Asylum Support Teams are continuously evaluated by both the host Member State and the experts themselves This approach will ensure a smooth functioning in cooperation with all the participants The support will also be evaluated in order to identify best practices and possible hurdles to be overcome With the evaluation of all participants special and emergency support aims at delivering support of the highest quality

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 11

53 EASO publications in 2012

During 2012 EASO published the following documents

Publication Languages in which the document was published

EASO annual report on the situation of asylum in the EU and on the activities of the European Asylum Support Office for 2011

All official EU languages

EASO brochure English French GermanEASO work programme 2013 All official EU languages10 editions of the EASO newsletter EnglishEASO communication strategy EnglishEASO training strategy EnglishEASO Country of Origin Information report lsquoAfghanistan Taliban strategies mdash Recruitmentrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin information report lsquoAfghanistan Insurgent strategies intimidation and targeted violence against Afghansrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin report methodology English French German Italian SpanishEASO fact finding report on intra-EU relocation activities from Malta

English

54 EASO annual report on access to documents

Introduction

Public sector information may be a significant economic political and social resource by adding value to the deci-sion-making processes and facilitating the developments of organisations individuals and society

Openness and availability of EU information enables citizens to participate more closely in the EU decision-mak-ing process By being transparent EU institutions and bodies are more effective and more accountable to the citizen Transparency also contributes to strengthening the principles of democracy and respect for fundamental rights

In this context access to documents is a right recognised in Article 15(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union In order to grant the right to access to documents and promote good governance EASO con-ducts its work as openly as possible

Article 17(1) of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May regarding public access to European Parliament Council and Commission documents foresees that each institution shall publish annually a report for the preceding year including the number of cases in which the institution refused to grant access to documents The aforementioned regulation applies to EASO according to Article 42 of Regulation (EU) No 4392010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 establishing EASO

Furthermore Decision No 6 of the Management Board of EASO of 20 September 2011 laid down practical arrangements on public access to EASO documents This decision stipulates that EASO shall annex the report on access to documents to its annual report (Article 17)

12 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

EASOrsquos procedure on access to documents

Any person may exercise the right to access to documents held by EASO by making a request in writing If the document originates in a third party or is co-authored by a third party EASO consults the third party concerned The Executive Director of EASO replies to initial applications within 15 working days Refusals to grant access to the requested documents can only be based on specific exceptions If access to the document is not granted the requesting person may lodge a confirmatory application within 15 working days The Executive Director of EASO replies to confirmatory applications within 15 working days If access is refused following a confirmatory application the requesting person may bring an action in the Court of Justice of the European Union andor file a complaint with the European Ombudsman

The following chart describes the EASO processes on access to documents

Key developments on access to documents in 2012

In 2012 the first full year of operations EASO adopted its communication strategy confirming its commitment to promote openness and transparency communicating its activities by a consistent flow of information

EASO also launched its website (httpwwweasoeuropaeu) which serves as a platform for facilitating access to EASO documents

During the reference period EASO decided on initial and confirmatory requests as detailed hereunder

Initial applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 EASO received 13 initial requests to access nine documents Access was refused to two documents on the basis of the protection of privacy and integrity of the individual and on the basis of the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process (Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 and Article 3 of Management Board Decision No 6)

Confirmatory applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 one confirmatory request was presented to access one document The reply to this request con-firmed the application of the exception related to the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process

Complaints lodged to the European Ombudsman or actions brought in the CJEU

In 2012 no actions were brought in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and no complaints were filed with the European Ombudsman regarding EASOrsquos decisions on access to documents

5 A

nnex

es

51

EA

SO p

rogr

ess r

epor

t 201

2

ACTI

VITY

QUA

RTER

1Q

UART

ER 2

QUA

RTER

3Q

UART

ER 4

(1) P

erm

anen

t su

ppor

t

(a)E

ASO

trai

ning

ndashensp

EASO

trai

ning

stra

tegy

ndashenspEA

SO tr

aini

ng se

ssio

nsndashensp

EASO

trai

ning

mod

ules

up

date

dndashensp

othe

r

ndash 2

trai

ning

sess

ions

in

Luxe

mbo

urg

ndash 2

trai

n-th

e-tr

aine

r ses

sions

in

Mal

tandash

2 tr

aini

ng m

odul

es u

pdat

edndash

E-pl

atfo

rm e

valu

atio

n la

unch

ed

ndash EA

SO tr

aini

ng st

rate

gy a

dopt

edndash

6 tr

ain-

the-

trai

ner s

essio

ns in

M

alta

ndash Tr

aini

ng N

CP m

eetin

gndash

Term

s of r

efer

ence

for E

ASO

tr

aini

ng N

CPs a

dopt

edndash

3 tr

aini

ng m

odul

es u

pdat

edndash

Deve

lopm

ent o

f EAS

O tr

aini

ng

cock

pit l

aunc

hed

ndash Tr

ansf

er o

f EAC

serv

ers t

o EA

SO

initi

ated

ndash 1

trai

n-th

e-tr

aine

r ses

sion

in

Gree

cendash

2 tr

ain-

the-

trai

ner s

essio

ns in

M

alta

ndash 3

trai

ning

mod

ules

upd

ated

ndash E-

plat

form

eva

luat

ion

final

ised

ndash EA

SO tr

aini

ng p

lan

2013

and

EAS

O

upda

ting

plan

for t

rain

ing

mod

ules

20

13ndash

4 tr

ain-

the-

trai

ner s

essio

nsndash

EASO

ann

ual d

idac

tic se

min

arndash

Trai

ning

NCP

mee

ting

ndash U

pdat

ed v

ersio

n of

term

s of

refe

renc

e fo

r EAS

O tr

aini

ng a

nd

expe

rt p

ool

ndash An

nual

mee

ting

with

trai

ning

re

fere

nce

grou

pndash

2 tr

aini

ng m

odul

es u

pdat

edndash

Initi

atio

n of

CEA

S m

odul

e de

velo

pmen

tndash

Tran

sfer

of E

AC se

rver

s to

EASO

ndash La

unch

of a

cur

ricul

um fo

r m

embe

rs o

f cou

rts a

nd tr

ibun

als

(b) Q

ualit

y pr

oces

ses

ndashenspQ

ualit

y ex

pert

mee

tings

ndashensp Q

ualit

y re

view

of m

ater

ials

deliv

ered

by

EASO

asy

lum

su

ppor

t tea

ms

ndash De

velo

pmen

t of E

ASO

qua

lity

asse

ssm

ent m

etho

dolo

gy

initi

ated

ndash Ad

viso

ry m

eetin

gs o

n EA

SO

qual

ity a

ctiv

ities

ndash De

velo

pmen

t of E

ASO

qua

lity

asse

ssm

ent m

etho

dolo

gyndash

Colle

ctin

g da

ta o

n pr

ojec

ts

and

initi

ativ

es re

late

d to

qu

ality

ndash De

velo

pmen

t of E

ASO

rese

arch

to

ol fo

r the

qua

lity

asse

ssm

ent

(qua

lity

mat

rix)

ndash La

unch

of E

ASO

rsquos qu

ality

as

sess

men

t app

roac

h an

d to

ols

with

Mem

ber S

tate

s

6 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

ACTI

VITY

QUA

RTER

1Q

UART

ER 2

QUA

RTER

3Q

UART

ER 4

(c) C

ount

ry o

f Orig

in In

form

atio

nndash

COI t

ask

forc

e m

eetin

g (Ja

n)

ndash 4

mee

tings

of C

OI w

orki

ng

part

y

ndash Pu

blic

atio

n of

EAS

O C

OI r

epor

t on

Afg

hani

stan

par

t 1 (J

une)

ndash Pu

blic

atio

n of

CO

I rep

ort o

n m

etho

dolo

gy (J

une)

ndash CO

I tas

k fo

rce

mee

ting

(May

)ndash

3 m

eetin

gs o

f CO

I wor

king

par

ty

ndash CO

I tas

k fo

rce

mee

ting

(Sep

)ndash

3 m

eetin

gs C

OI w

orki

ng p

arty

ndash Pu

blic

atio

n of

EAS

O C

OI r

epor

t on

Afgh

anist

an p

art 2

(Nov

)ndash

2 m

eetin

gs o

f CO

I por

tal w

orki

ng

part

yndash

1 m

eetin

g of

CO

I kno

wle

dge

man

agem

ent w

orki

ng p

arty

(d) E

ASO

list

of a

vaila

ble

lang

uage

s (LA

L)ndash

Man

agem

ent B

oard

dec

ision

on

the

fram

ewor

k fo

r EAS

O

lsquolist

of i

nter

pret

ersrsquo

ndash FP

I (1 ) N

CP m

eetin

g (M

ay)

ndash Es

tabl

ishm

ent o

f EAS

O L

AL

(e) E

ASO

pra

ctic

al c

oope

ratio

n m

eetin

gsndash

Plen

ary

Eura

sil h

and-

over

m

eetin

g (M

ar)

ndash Sy

ria w

orks

hop

(June

) ndash

Syria

wor

ksho

p (A

ug)

ndash Co

nfer

ence

on

lsquoAfg

hani

stan

CO

I an

d be

yond

rsquo (O

ct)

(f) U

nacc

ompa

nied

min

ors (

UM

) ex

pert

mee

tings

ndash La

unch

of E

ASO

que

stio

nnai

re

and

cons

ulta

tion

with

civ

il so

ciet

y on

age

ass

essm

ent

ndash EA

SO c

ontr

ibut

ion

to th

e Co

mm

issio

n m

id-t

erm

repo

rt

actio

n pl

an o

n U

M (2

010ndash

14)

ndash EA

SO in

trod

ucto

ry se

ssio

n on

U

M a

nd a

ge a

sses

smen

t (M

ay)

ndash 2

EASO

exp

ert m

eetin

gs o

n U

Mndash

2 EA

SO e

xper

t mee

tings

on

UM

ndash Dr

aftin

g of

the

EASO

age

as

sess

men

t han

dboo

k co

mm

ence

sndash

EASO

and

Com

miss

ion

deve

lopm

ent o

f que

stio

nnai

re a

nd

wor

k on

fam

ily tr

acin

g be

gins

(2) S

peci

al s

uppo

rt(a

) Tai

lor-m

ade

supp

ort a

nd

capa

city

bui

ldin

gndash

Spec

ial s

uppo

rt fo

r Sw

eden

la

unch

edndash

Spec

ial s

uppo

rt re

ques

t fro

m It

aly

(b) R

eloc

atio

nndash

Fact

-find

ing

and

pres

enta

tion

of re

port

on

relo

catio

n pr

ojec

ts

from

Mal

ta (J

une)

ndash In

form

al jo

int E

ASO

ndashCo

mm

issio

n m

eetin

g w

ith th

e re

leva

nt M

alte

se a

utho

ritie

s on

out

look

for E

urem

a II

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

n of

the

repo

rt in

JH

A Co

unci

l (O

ct)

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

n of

the

repo

rt a

t th

e co

nfer

ence

of t

he E

urop

ean

Mig

ratio

n N

etw

ork

in F

ranc

e (N

ov)

1 (1 ) Fo

cal p

oint

s for

inte

rpre

tatio

n m

atte

rs

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 7

(3) e

mer

genc

y su

ppor

t

(a) A

IP

ndashenspE

valu

atio

n AI

P ndash

enspAIP

mee

ting

ndash AI

P N

CP m

eetin

gndash

Eval

uatio

n an

d pr

opos

als t

o am

end

AIP

prof

iles (

lsquoAIP

20rsquo

) (M

ay)

ndash M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd d

ecisi

on o

n lsquoA

IP 2

0rsquo (J

une)

ndash Re

ques

t for

nom

inat

ions

for

lsquoAIP

20rsquo

(Jul

)ndash

Sett

ing

up lsquoA

IP 2

0rsquo (O

ctndash

Nov

)

(b) I

mpl

emen

ting

oper

atin

g pl

an

for G

reec

endash

10 A

sylu

m S

uppo

rt Te

ams

activ

e in

Gre

ece

ndash 15

Asy

lum

Sup

port

Team

s act

ive

in G

reec

e ndash

10 A

sylu

m S

uppo

rt Te

ams

activ

e in

Gre

ece

ndash 14

Asy

lum

Sup

port

Team

s act

ive

in G

reec

e

(4) I

nfor

mat

ion

and

anal

ysis

sup

port

(a) E

ASO

ann

ual r

epor

tndash

EASO

ann

ual r

epor

t and

act

ivity

re

port

pub

lishe

d (Ju

ne)

ndash Ci

vil s

ocie

ty in

vite

d to

send

co

mm

ents

on

annu

al re

port

(Ju

l)

ndash Br

eak-

out s

essio

ns in

Con

sulta

tive

Foru

m o

n an

nual

repo

rt

(b) E

arly

war

ning

and

Pr

epar

edne

ss S

yste

m

ndashenspp

rese

ntat

ions

on

anal

ysis

ndashenspt

rend

s re

gion

al o

utlo

ok

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

JHA

Co

unci

l IG

C N

urnb

erg

GDI

SC

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

and

in

form

al JH

A Co

unci

l Fr

onte

x

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

qua

rter

ly

repo

rtndash

Wes

tern

Bal

kans

and

Syr

ia a

d ho

c re

port

sndash

Join

t pap

er o

n an

EPS

with

the

Com

miss

ion

as p

er A

rtic

le 3

3 of

th

e Du

blin

regu

latio

n

(5) T

hird

cou

ntry

sup

port

(a) R

eset

tlem

ent

ndash EA

SO re

sett

lem

ent s

emin

ar

(Oct

)(b

) Ext

erna

l dim

ensio

nndash

Part

icip

atio

n in

EU

ndashTun

isia

mob

ility

par

tner

ship

mee

ting

in T

unis

(Mar

)

ndash Pa

rtic

ipat

ion

in th

e Bu

dape

st

proc

ess

ndash Pa

rtic

ipat

ion

in th

e Bu

dape

st

proc

ess

ndash Pa

rtic

ipat

ion

in th

e la

unch

of

Euro

pean

Com

miss

ionndash

Jord

an

nego

tiatio

ns fo

r mob

ility

pa

rtne

rshi

p (D

ec)

8 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

(6) E

ASO

org

anis

atio

n

(a) R

ecru

it up

to 6

1 st

aff i

n EA

SOndash

15 st

aff r

ecru

ited

ndash 6

staf

f rec

ruite

d ndash

7 st

aff r

ecru

ited

ndash 7

staf

f rec

ruite

d

(b) I

mpl

emen

t EAS

O b

udge

t 201

2ndash

Fina

ncia

l ind

epen

denc

endash

Budg

et im

plem

enta

tion

Com

mitm

ent a

ppro

pria

tions

78

ndash

Paym

ent a

ppro

pria

tions

67

(c

) EAS

O M

anag

emen

t Boa

rdndash

EASO

Man

agem

ent B

oard

(F

eb)

ndash EA

SO M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd (J

une)

ndash EA

SO M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd

(Sep

)ndash

EASO

Man

agem

ent B

oard

(Nov

)

(d) M

ove

to th

e EA

SO d

efin

itive

pr

emise

s in

valle

tta

Harb

our

ndash Fi

nalis

atio

n of

gra

nt e

xten

sion

for c

ompl

etin

g th

e w

orks

ndash M

ove

to d

efin

itive

pre

mise

s (S

ep)

ndash Fi

nalis

atio

n w

orks

in d

efin

itive

pr

emise

s (gr

ound

floo

r) (D

ecndash

Ja

n 2

013)

(e) E

ASO

com

mun

icat

ion

stra

tegy

ndash EA

SO c

omm

unic

atio

n st

rate

gy

(June

)(f)

EAS

O w

ebsit

ew

eb p

orta

lndash

Laun

ch o

f tem

pora

ry E

ASO

w

ebsit

e (S

ep)

ndash La

unch

of d

efin

itive

EAS

O w

ebsit

e

(g) E

stab

lish

stro

ng c

oope

ratio

n re

latio

ns w

ith p

artn

ers a

nd

stak

ehol

ders

of E

ASO

ndash EA

SO h

earin

g at

Eur

opea

n Pa

rliam

ent (

LIBE

Com

mitt

ee)

(Jan

)ndash

EASO

join

s the

hea

ds o

f JHA

ag

enci

esrsquo n

etw

ork

and

the

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

(Feb

)ndash

Advi

sory

Com

mitt

ee o

f the

Fr

onte

x Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

(M

ar)

ndash Ad

viso

ry C

omm

ittee

of t

he

Fron

tex

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m

(Apr

)ndash

1st r

ound

of n

egot

iatio

ns w

ith

the

asso

ciat

ed c

ount

ies (

May

)ndash

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

mee

ting

(June

)ndash

Part

icip

atio

n in

EM

N n

atio

nal

cont

act p

oint

s mee

ting

(June

)

ndash Se

nior

man

agem

ent

cons

ulta

tions

bet

wee

n U

NHC

R an

d EA

SO (J

ul)

ndash W

orki

ng a

rran

gem

ent

betw

een

Fron

tex

and

EASO

sig

ned

(Sep

)ndash

2nd

roun

d of

neg

otia

tions

w

ith th

e as

soci

ated

cou

ntrie

s (S

ep)

ndash EA

SO jo

ins t

he In

tera

genc

y Le

gal N

etw

ork

(IALN

) (Se

p)

ndash 1s

t Fro

ntex

Con

sulta

tive

Foru

m

mee

ting

(Oct

)ndash

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

mee

ting

(Oct

)ndash

3rd

roun

d of

neg

otia

tions

with

the

asso

ciat

ed c

ount

ries (

Oct

)ndash

EASO

hea

ring

at E

urop

ean

Parli

amen

t (LI

BE C

omm

ittee

) (N

ov)

ndash St

art o

f neg

otia

tions

on

a w

orki

ng

arra

ngem

ent b

etw

een

EASO

and

UN

HCR

and

betw

een

EASO

and

FRA

ndash JH

A ag

enci

esrsquo m

eetin

g (D

ec)

(h) C

onsu

ltativ

e Fo

rum

Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

co

nsul

tatio

ns w

ith c

ivil

soci

ety

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

UM

tra

inin

gndash

Mee

ting

of th

e EA

SO

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m a

dviso

ry

grou

p (M

ar)

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

trai

ning

EAS

O w

orki

ng

prog

ram

me

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

qual

ity r

eset

tlem

ent

annu

al

repo

rtndash

Mee

ting

of th

e EA

SO

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m a

dviso

ry

grou

p (S

ep)

ndash Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

op

erat

iona

l pla

n pr

esen

ted

to

advi

sory

gro

up (S

ep)

ndash Se

cond

EAS

O C

onsu

ltativ

e Fo

rum

pl

enar

y m

eetin

g (N

ov)

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

rese

ttle

men

t CO

I tr

aini

ng E

PS

annu

al re

port

wor

k pr

ogra

mm

e

qual

ity a

nd U

M

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 9

52 Implementation of EASO actions under the Stockholm programme

In 2010 the European Unionrsquos Stockholm programme was adopted with an action plan for the 3 years from 2010ndash12 (2)

The Stockholm action plan clearly stipulates four priorities to be carried out by EASO

1 development of methods to better identify those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows and to cooperate with Frontex wherever possible

2 further development of a common educational platform for national asylum officials building on the European Asylum Curriculum in particular

3 development of a common methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions4 evaluation and development of procedures for facilitation of the secondment of officials in order to help

those Member States facing particular pressures of asylum seekers flows

The level of implementation by 2012 is given per priority defined for EASO

(1) Development of methods to better identify those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows and to cooperate with Frontex wherever possible

1 Methods of better identifying those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows together with Frontex lie in joint operational support activities to EU Member States and joint training on nation-ality establishment Following a request from Greece Frontex and EASO are currently cooperating in a first joint operation in Greece via the development of common training on nationality establishment for the staff of the first reception service and the asylum service This pilot training is part of the Operating Plan Greece Phase II and was to take place on 29 and 30 April 2013 in Athens (more regional locations to follow) Furthermore the experience gathered through the EASOndashFrontex cooperation will be used as input for other joint operations and for developing methods of better identifying those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows

2 A first joint EASOndashFrontex meeting was held in 2012 in order to develop guidelines for operational co-operation in case of a sudden arrival of mixed flows in Member States A meeting is planned to identify the opportunities in and explore the possibilities for establishing common or mixed teams from the pools with border management and asylum experts (in accordance with Article 3 of the EASOndashFrontex working arrangement of 26 September 2012)

(2) Further develop a common educational platform for national asylum officials building in particular the European Asylum Curriculum

According to its training strategy EASO already has developed a common educational platform for national asy-lum officials with a training curriculum of 13 modules In 2013 a new training module on management will be finalised All the training modules are regularly updated and the quality is ensured by the involvement of a refer-ence group (UNHCR European Commission ECRE Odysseus IARLJ)

The module lsquoEU Asylum Law and Policyrsquo is to be replaced in 2013 by a new module on the CEAS The training cockpit has been conceptualised to allow a clear view and help Member States in their implementation of the curriculum (training of their staff)

EASO training is a continuous process of providing an educational platform to EU Member States as well as a permanent process of updating content and tools to deliver the maximum quality

(2) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament the Council the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions lsquoDelivering an area of freedom security and justice for Europersquos citizens Action plan implementing the Stockholm programmersquo COM(2010) 171 final

10 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

(3) Development of a common methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions

Reducing disparities in asylum decisions also means taking a closer look behind the figures

bull Disparities in recognition rates can only be considered for similar flows For example aggregating a 95 acceptance rate from Syria and a 95 rejection rate from a similarly sized flow from Serbia and the former yugoslav Republic of Macedonia gives a total of 50 recognition but hides the real protection extended to asylum seekers

bull Furthermore the legal regimes used to accord international or national protection may be different between Member States or changed over time by the same Member States in regard to the same flow (eg the current case of Syria) Due to the lack of a common methodology these regime changes occur in a different way across the EU

bull Finally lsquounofficialrsquo practices and policies may be in use and change the interpretation that should be made of the official figures for instance leaving claims pending mdash in effect deciding not to decide mdash or rejecting claims while knowing that returns are impossible

EASO will analyse the data of EU Member States using quantitative and qualitative indicators in order to identify what kind of disparities are actually present before suggesting methodologies for minimising them In this regard EASO held a meeting with Member States on Syria in March 2013 together with the European Commission with the aim of understanding disparities of treatment of asylum cases from Syria This is a first step in reducing the overall disparity in asylum decisions During the meeting Member States were asked how they could improve homogeneity when facing crises such as the Syrian one including what regimes should be used in which circum-stances in the source country what signals could be used to indicate when the regimes used should be changed and what determines the change in acceptance rate over time

Training also contributes to the development of a common methodology on reducing disparities of asylum deci-sions because all asylum caseworkers are trained with the same curriculum and common understanding This has also been noticed by EU Member States for instance Finland remarked that its asylum decision-making is more in line with the CEAS since its staff have been trained via the EASO training sessions and curriculum

The quality matrix gives and will continue to give a clearer view of the situation in Member States on the various aspects of the CEAS It will identify needs and present ways to support Member States With regard to a com-mon methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions best practices and specific common approaches will be presented and discussed amongst all Member States A first thematic will be the lsquopersonal interviewrsquo with a meeting in March 2013 to be followed by other thematic meetings The list of existing initia-tives has already been completed and distributed

(4) Evaluation and development of procedures for facilitation of the secondment of officials in order to help those Member States facing particular pressures of asylum seekers flows

The Asylum Support Teams with experts from Member States deployed in Member States under particular pres-sure due to a high asylum influx are working well and the impact is noticed

An assessment of the Asylum Support Teams was presented at the EASO Management Board meeting in Novem-ber 2012 following a National Contact Point meeting A direct result of the positive evaluation was the addition of more profiles to the Asylum Intervention Pool in order to match more precisely the identified needs

In addition the Asylum Support Teams are continuously evaluated by both the host Member State and the experts themselves This approach will ensure a smooth functioning in cooperation with all the participants The support will also be evaluated in order to identify best practices and possible hurdles to be overcome With the evaluation of all participants special and emergency support aims at delivering support of the highest quality

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 11

53 EASO publications in 2012

During 2012 EASO published the following documents

Publication Languages in which the document was published

EASO annual report on the situation of asylum in the EU and on the activities of the European Asylum Support Office for 2011

All official EU languages

EASO brochure English French GermanEASO work programme 2013 All official EU languages10 editions of the EASO newsletter EnglishEASO communication strategy EnglishEASO training strategy EnglishEASO Country of Origin Information report lsquoAfghanistan Taliban strategies mdash Recruitmentrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin information report lsquoAfghanistan Insurgent strategies intimidation and targeted violence against Afghansrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin report methodology English French German Italian SpanishEASO fact finding report on intra-EU relocation activities from Malta

English

54 EASO annual report on access to documents

Introduction

Public sector information may be a significant economic political and social resource by adding value to the deci-sion-making processes and facilitating the developments of organisations individuals and society

Openness and availability of EU information enables citizens to participate more closely in the EU decision-mak-ing process By being transparent EU institutions and bodies are more effective and more accountable to the citizen Transparency also contributes to strengthening the principles of democracy and respect for fundamental rights

In this context access to documents is a right recognised in Article 15(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union In order to grant the right to access to documents and promote good governance EASO con-ducts its work as openly as possible

Article 17(1) of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May regarding public access to European Parliament Council and Commission documents foresees that each institution shall publish annually a report for the preceding year including the number of cases in which the institution refused to grant access to documents The aforementioned regulation applies to EASO according to Article 42 of Regulation (EU) No 4392010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 establishing EASO

Furthermore Decision No 6 of the Management Board of EASO of 20 September 2011 laid down practical arrangements on public access to EASO documents This decision stipulates that EASO shall annex the report on access to documents to its annual report (Article 17)

12 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

EASOrsquos procedure on access to documents

Any person may exercise the right to access to documents held by EASO by making a request in writing If the document originates in a third party or is co-authored by a third party EASO consults the third party concerned The Executive Director of EASO replies to initial applications within 15 working days Refusals to grant access to the requested documents can only be based on specific exceptions If access to the document is not granted the requesting person may lodge a confirmatory application within 15 working days The Executive Director of EASO replies to confirmatory applications within 15 working days If access is refused following a confirmatory application the requesting person may bring an action in the Court of Justice of the European Union andor file a complaint with the European Ombudsman

The following chart describes the EASO processes on access to documents

Key developments on access to documents in 2012

In 2012 the first full year of operations EASO adopted its communication strategy confirming its commitment to promote openness and transparency communicating its activities by a consistent flow of information

EASO also launched its website (httpwwweasoeuropaeu) which serves as a platform for facilitating access to EASO documents

During the reference period EASO decided on initial and confirmatory requests as detailed hereunder

Initial applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 EASO received 13 initial requests to access nine documents Access was refused to two documents on the basis of the protection of privacy and integrity of the individual and on the basis of the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process (Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 and Article 3 of Management Board Decision No 6)

Confirmatory applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 one confirmatory request was presented to access one document The reply to this request con-firmed the application of the exception related to the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process

Complaints lodged to the European Ombudsman or actions brought in the CJEU

In 2012 no actions were brought in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and no complaints were filed with the European Ombudsman regarding EASOrsquos decisions on access to documents

6 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

ACTI

VITY

QUA

RTER

1Q

UART

ER 2

QUA

RTER

3Q

UART

ER 4

(c) C

ount

ry o

f Orig

in In

form

atio

nndash

COI t

ask

forc

e m

eetin

g (Ja

n)

ndash 4

mee

tings

of C

OI w

orki

ng

part

y

ndash Pu

blic

atio

n of

EAS

O C

OI r

epor

t on

Afg

hani

stan

par

t 1 (J

une)

ndash Pu

blic

atio

n of

CO

I rep

ort o

n m

etho

dolo

gy (J

une)

ndash CO

I tas

k fo

rce

mee

ting

(May

)ndash

3 m

eetin

gs o

f CO

I wor

king

par

ty

ndash CO

I tas

k fo

rce

mee

ting

(Sep

)ndash

3 m

eetin

gs C

OI w

orki

ng p

arty

ndash Pu

blic

atio

n of

EAS

O C

OI r

epor

t on

Afgh

anist

an p

art 2

(Nov

)ndash

2 m

eetin

gs o

f CO

I por

tal w

orki

ng

part

yndash

1 m

eetin

g of

CO

I kno

wle

dge

man

agem

ent w

orki

ng p

arty

(d) E

ASO

list

of a

vaila

ble

lang

uage

s (LA

L)ndash

Man

agem

ent B

oard

dec

ision

on

the

fram

ewor

k fo

r EAS

O

lsquolist

of i

nter

pret

ersrsquo

ndash FP

I (1 ) N

CP m

eetin

g (M

ay)

ndash Es

tabl

ishm

ent o

f EAS

O L

AL

(e) E

ASO

pra

ctic

al c

oope

ratio

n m

eetin

gsndash

Plen

ary

Eura

sil h

and-

over

m

eetin

g (M

ar)

ndash Sy

ria w

orks

hop

(June

) ndash

Syria

wor

ksho

p (A

ug)

ndash Co

nfer

ence

on

lsquoAfg

hani

stan

CO

I an

d be

yond

rsquo (O

ct)

(f) U

nacc

ompa

nied

min

ors (

UM

) ex

pert

mee

tings

ndash La

unch

of E

ASO

que

stio

nnai

re

and

cons

ulta

tion

with

civ

il so

ciet

y on

age

ass

essm

ent

ndash EA

SO c

ontr

ibut

ion

to th

e Co

mm

issio

n m

id-t

erm

repo

rt

actio

n pl

an o

n U

M (2

010ndash

14)

ndash EA

SO in

trod

ucto

ry se

ssio

n on

U

M a

nd a

ge a

sses

smen

t (M

ay)

ndash 2

EASO

exp

ert m

eetin

gs o

n U

Mndash

2 EA

SO e

xper

t mee

tings

on

UM

ndash Dr

aftin

g of

the

EASO

age

as

sess

men

t han

dboo

k co

mm

ence

sndash

EASO

and

Com

miss

ion

deve

lopm

ent o

f que

stio

nnai

re a

nd

wor

k on

fam

ily tr

acin

g be

gins

(2) S

peci

al s

uppo

rt(a

) Tai

lor-m

ade

supp

ort a

nd

capa

city

bui

ldin

gndash

Spec

ial s

uppo

rt fo

r Sw

eden

la

unch

edndash

Spec

ial s

uppo

rt re

ques

t fro

m It

aly

(b) R

eloc

atio

nndash

Fact

-find

ing

and

pres

enta

tion

of re

port

on

relo

catio

n pr

ojec

ts

from

Mal

ta (J

une)

ndash In

form

al jo

int E

ASO

ndashCo

mm

issio

n m

eetin

g w

ith th

e re

leva

nt M

alte

se a

utho

ritie

s on

out

look

for E

urem

a II

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

n of

the

repo

rt in

JH

A Co

unci

l (O

ct)

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

n of

the

repo

rt a

t th

e co

nfer

ence

of t

he E

urop

ean

Mig

ratio

n N

etw

ork

in F

ranc

e (N

ov)

1 (1 ) Fo

cal p

oint

s for

inte

rpre

tatio

n m

atte

rs

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 7

(3) e

mer

genc

y su

ppor

t

(a) A

IP

ndashenspE

valu

atio

n AI

P ndash

enspAIP

mee

ting

ndash AI

P N

CP m

eetin

gndash

Eval

uatio

n an

d pr

opos

als t

o am

end

AIP

prof

iles (

lsquoAIP

20rsquo

) (M

ay)

ndash M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd d

ecisi

on o

n lsquoA

IP 2

0rsquo (J

une)

ndash Re

ques

t for

nom

inat

ions

for

lsquoAIP

20rsquo

(Jul

)ndash

Sett

ing

up lsquoA

IP 2

0rsquo (O

ctndash

Nov

)

(b) I

mpl

emen

ting

oper

atin

g pl

an

for G

reec

endash

10 A

sylu

m S

uppo

rt Te

ams

activ

e in

Gre

ece

ndash 15

Asy

lum

Sup

port

Team

s act

ive

in G

reec

e ndash

10 A

sylu

m S

uppo

rt Te

ams

activ

e in

Gre

ece

ndash 14

Asy

lum

Sup

port

Team

s act

ive

in G

reec

e

(4) I

nfor

mat

ion

and

anal

ysis

sup

port

(a) E

ASO

ann

ual r

epor

tndash

EASO

ann

ual r

epor

t and

act

ivity

re

port

pub

lishe

d (Ju

ne)

ndash Ci

vil s

ocie

ty in

vite

d to

send

co

mm

ents

on

annu

al re

port

(Ju

l)

ndash Br

eak-

out s

essio

ns in

Con

sulta

tive

Foru

m o

n an

nual

repo

rt

(b) E

arly

war

ning

and

Pr

epar

edne

ss S

yste

m

ndashenspp

rese

ntat

ions

on

anal

ysis

ndashenspt

rend

s re

gion

al o

utlo

ok

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

JHA

Co

unci

l IG

C N

urnb

erg

GDI

SC

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

and

in

form

al JH

A Co

unci

l Fr

onte

x

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

qua

rter

ly

repo

rtndash

Wes

tern

Bal

kans

and

Syr

ia a

d ho

c re

port

sndash

Join

t pap

er o

n an

EPS

with

the

Com

miss

ion

as p

er A

rtic

le 3

3 of

th

e Du

blin

regu

latio

n

(5) T

hird

cou

ntry

sup

port

(a) R

eset

tlem

ent

ndash EA

SO re

sett

lem

ent s

emin

ar

(Oct

)(b

) Ext

erna

l dim

ensio

nndash

Part

icip

atio

n in

EU

ndashTun

isia

mob

ility

par

tner

ship

mee

ting

in T

unis

(Mar

)

ndash Pa

rtic

ipat

ion

in th

e Bu

dape

st

proc

ess

ndash Pa

rtic

ipat

ion

in th

e Bu

dape

st

proc

ess

ndash Pa

rtic

ipat

ion

in th

e la

unch

of

Euro

pean

Com

miss

ionndash

Jord

an

nego

tiatio

ns fo

r mob

ility

pa

rtne

rshi

p (D

ec)

8 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

(6) E

ASO

org

anis

atio

n

(a) R

ecru

it up

to 6

1 st

aff i

n EA

SOndash

15 st

aff r

ecru

ited

ndash 6

staf

f rec

ruite

d ndash

7 st

aff r

ecru

ited

ndash 7

staf

f rec

ruite

d

(b) I

mpl

emen

t EAS

O b

udge

t 201

2ndash

Fina

ncia

l ind

epen

denc

endash

Budg

et im

plem

enta

tion

Com

mitm

ent a

ppro

pria

tions

78

ndash

Paym

ent a

ppro

pria

tions

67

(c

) EAS

O M

anag

emen

t Boa

rdndash

EASO

Man

agem

ent B

oard

(F

eb)

ndash EA

SO M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd (J

une)

ndash EA

SO M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd

(Sep

)ndash

EASO

Man

agem

ent B

oard

(Nov

)

(d) M

ove

to th

e EA

SO d

efin

itive

pr

emise

s in

valle

tta

Harb

our

ndash Fi

nalis

atio

n of

gra

nt e

xten

sion

for c

ompl

etin

g th

e w

orks

ndash M

ove

to d

efin

itive

pre

mise

s (S

ep)

ndash Fi

nalis

atio

n w

orks

in d

efin

itive

pr

emise

s (gr

ound

floo

r) (D

ecndash

Ja

n 2

013)

(e) E

ASO

com

mun

icat

ion

stra

tegy

ndash EA

SO c

omm

unic

atio

n st

rate

gy

(June

)(f)

EAS

O w

ebsit

ew

eb p

orta

lndash

Laun

ch o

f tem

pora

ry E

ASO

w

ebsit

e (S

ep)

ndash La

unch

of d

efin

itive

EAS

O w

ebsit

e

(g) E

stab

lish

stro

ng c

oope

ratio

n re

latio

ns w

ith p

artn

ers a

nd

stak

ehol

ders

of E

ASO

ndash EA

SO h

earin

g at

Eur

opea

n Pa

rliam

ent (

LIBE

Com

mitt

ee)

(Jan

)ndash

EASO

join

s the

hea

ds o

f JHA

ag

enci

esrsquo n

etw

ork

and

the

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

(Feb

)ndash

Advi

sory

Com

mitt

ee o

f the

Fr

onte

x Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

(M

ar)

ndash Ad

viso

ry C

omm

ittee

of t

he

Fron

tex

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m

(Apr

)ndash

1st r

ound

of n

egot

iatio

ns w

ith

the

asso

ciat

ed c

ount

ies (

May

)ndash

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

mee

ting

(June

)ndash

Part

icip

atio

n in

EM

N n

atio

nal

cont

act p

oint

s mee

ting

(June

)

ndash Se

nior

man

agem

ent

cons

ulta

tions

bet

wee

n U

NHC

R an

d EA

SO (J

ul)

ndash W

orki

ng a

rran

gem

ent

betw

een

Fron

tex

and

EASO

sig

ned

(Sep

)ndash

2nd

roun

d of

neg

otia

tions

w

ith th

e as

soci

ated

cou

ntrie

s (S

ep)

ndash EA

SO jo

ins t

he In

tera

genc

y Le

gal N

etw

ork

(IALN

) (Se

p)

ndash 1s

t Fro

ntex

Con

sulta

tive

Foru

m

mee

ting

(Oct

)ndash

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

mee

ting

(Oct

)ndash

3rd

roun

d of

neg

otia

tions

with

the

asso

ciat

ed c

ount

ries (

Oct

)ndash

EASO

hea

ring

at E

urop

ean

Parli

amen

t (LI

BE C

omm

ittee

) (N

ov)

ndash St

art o

f neg

otia

tions

on

a w

orki

ng

arra

ngem

ent b

etw

een

EASO

and

UN

HCR

and

betw

een

EASO

and

FRA

ndash JH

A ag

enci

esrsquo m

eetin

g (D

ec)

(h) C

onsu

ltativ

e Fo

rum

Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

co

nsul

tatio

ns w

ith c

ivil

soci

ety

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

UM

tra

inin

gndash

Mee

ting

of th

e EA

SO

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m a

dviso

ry

grou

p (M

ar)

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

trai

ning

EAS

O w

orki

ng

prog

ram

me

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

qual

ity r

eset

tlem

ent

annu

al

repo

rtndash

Mee

ting

of th

e EA

SO

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m a

dviso

ry

grou

p (S

ep)

ndash Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

op

erat

iona

l pla

n pr

esen

ted

to

advi

sory

gro

up (S

ep)

ndash Se

cond

EAS

O C

onsu

ltativ

e Fo

rum

pl

enar

y m

eetin

g (N

ov)

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

rese

ttle

men

t CO

I tr

aini

ng E

PS

annu

al re

port

wor

k pr

ogra

mm

e

qual

ity a

nd U

M

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 9

52 Implementation of EASO actions under the Stockholm programme

In 2010 the European Unionrsquos Stockholm programme was adopted with an action plan for the 3 years from 2010ndash12 (2)

The Stockholm action plan clearly stipulates four priorities to be carried out by EASO

1 development of methods to better identify those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows and to cooperate with Frontex wherever possible

2 further development of a common educational platform for national asylum officials building on the European Asylum Curriculum in particular

3 development of a common methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions4 evaluation and development of procedures for facilitation of the secondment of officials in order to help

those Member States facing particular pressures of asylum seekers flows

The level of implementation by 2012 is given per priority defined for EASO

(1) Development of methods to better identify those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows and to cooperate with Frontex wherever possible

1 Methods of better identifying those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows together with Frontex lie in joint operational support activities to EU Member States and joint training on nation-ality establishment Following a request from Greece Frontex and EASO are currently cooperating in a first joint operation in Greece via the development of common training on nationality establishment for the staff of the first reception service and the asylum service This pilot training is part of the Operating Plan Greece Phase II and was to take place on 29 and 30 April 2013 in Athens (more regional locations to follow) Furthermore the experience gathered through the EASOndashFrontex cooperation will be used as input for other joint operations and for developing methods of better identifying those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows

2 A first joint EASOndashFrontex meeting was held in 2012 in order to develop guidelines for operational co-operation in case of a sudden arrival of mixed flows in Member States A meeting is planned to identify the opportunities in and explore the possibilities for establishing common or mixed teams from the pools with border management and asylum experts (in accordance with Article 3 of the EASOndashFrontex working arrangement of 26 September 2012)

(2) Further develop a common educational platform for national asylum officials building in particular the European Asylum Curriculum

According to its training strategy EASO already has developed a common educational platform for national asy-lum officials with a training curriculum of 13 modules In 2013 a new training module on management will be finalised All the training modules are regularly updated and the quality is ensured by the involvement of a refer-ence group (UNHCR European Commission ECRE Odysseus IARLJ)

The module lsquoEU Asylum Law and Policyrsquo is to be replaced in 2013 by a new module on the CEAS The training cockpit has been conceptualised to allow a clear view and help Member States in their implementation of the curriculum (training of their staff)

EASO training is a continuous process of providing an educational platform to EU Member States as well as a permanent process of updating content and tools to deliver the maximum quality

(2) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament the Council the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions lsquoDelivering an area of freedom security and justice for Europersquos citizens Action plan implementing the Stockholm programmersquo COM(2010) 171 final

10 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

(3) Development of a common methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions

Reducing disparities in asylum decisions also means taking a closer look behind the figures

bull Disparities in recognition rates can only be considered for similar flows For example aggregating a 95 acceptance rate from Syria and a 95 rejection rate from a similarly sized flow from Serbia and the former yugoslav Republic of Macedonia gives a total of 50 recognition but hides the real protection extended to asylum seekers

bull Furthermore the legal regimes used to accord international or national protection may be different between Member States or changed over time by the same Member States in regard to the same flow (eg the current case of Syria) Due to the lack of a common methodology these regime changes occur in a different way across the EU

bull Finally lsquounofficialrsquo practices and policies may be in use and change the interpretation that should be made of the official figures for instance leaving claims pending mdash in effect deciding not to decide mdash or rejecting claims while knowing that returns are impossible

EASO will analyse the data of EU Member States using quantitative and qualitative indicators in order to identify what kind of disparities are actually present before suggesting methodologies for minimising them In this regard EASO held a meeting with Member States on Syria in March 2013 together with the European Commission with the aim of understanding disparities of treatment of asylum cases from Syria This is a first step in reducing the overall disparity in asylum decisions During the meeting Member States were asked how they could improve homogeneity when facing crises such as the Syrian one including what regimes should be used in which circum-stances in the source country what signals could be used to indicate when the regimes used should be changed and what determines the change in acceptance rate over time

Training also contributes to the development of a common methodology on reducing disparities of asylum deci-sions because all asylum caseworkers are trained with the same curriculum and common understanding This has also been noticed by EU Member States for instance Finland remarked that its asylum decision-making is more in line with the CEAS since its staff have been trained via the EASO training sessions and curriculum

The quality matrix gives and will continue to give a clearer view of the situation in Member States on the various aspects of the CEAS It will identify needs and present ways to support Member States With regard to a com-mon methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions best practices and specific common approaches will be presented and discussed amongst all Member States A first thematic will be the lsquopersonal interviewrsquo with a meeting in March 2013 to be followed by other thematic meetings The list of existing initia-tives has already been completed and distributed

(4) Evaluation and development of procedures for facilitation of the secondment of officials in order to help those Member States facing particular pressures of asylum seekers flows

The Asylum Support Teams with experts from Member States deployed in Member States under particular pres-sure due to a high asylum influx are working well and the impact is noticed

An assessment of the Asylum Support Teams was presented at the EASO Management Board meeting in Novem-ber 2012 following a National Contact Point meeting A direct result of the positive evaluation was the addition of more profiles to the Asylum Intervention Pool in order to match more precisely the identified needs

In addition the Asylum Support Teams are continuously evaluated by both the host Member State and the experts themselves This approach will ensure a smooth functioning in cooperation with all the participants The support will also be evaluated in order to identify best practices and possible hurdles to be overcome With the evaluation of all participants special and emergency support aims at delivering support of the highest quality

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 11

53 EASO publications in 2012

During 2012 EASO published the following documents

Publication Languages in which the document was published

EASO annual report on the situation of asylum in the EU and on the activities of the European Asylum Support Office for 2011

All official EU languages

EASO brochure English French GermanEASO work programme 2013 All official EU languages10 editions of the EASO newsletter EnglishEASO communication strategy EnglishEASO training strategy EnglishEASO Country of Origin Information report lsquoAfghanistan Taliban strategies mdash Recruitmentrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin information report lsquoAfghanistan Insurgent strategies intimidation and targeted violence against Afghansrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin report methodology English French German Italian SpanishEASO fact finding report on intra-EU relocation activities from Malta

English

54 EASO annual report on access to documents

Introduction

Public sector information may be a significant economic political and social resource by adding value to the deci-sion-making processes and facilitating the developments of organisations individuals and society

Openness and availability of EU information enables citizens to participate more closely in the EU decision-mak-ing process By being transparent EU institutions and bodies are more effective and more accountable to the citizen Transparency also contributes to strengthening the principles of democracy and respect for fundamental rights

In this context access to documents is a right recognised in Article 15(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union In order to grant the right to access to documents and promote good governance EASO con-ducts its work as openly as possible

Article 17(1) of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May regarding public access to European Parliament Council and Commission documents foresees that each institution shall publish annually a report for the preceding year including the number of cases in which the institution refused to grant access to documents The aforementioned regulation applies to EASO according to Article 42 of Regulation (EU) No 4392010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 establishing EASO

Furthermore Decision No 6 of the Management Board of EASO of 20 September 2011 laid down practical arrangements on public access to EASO documents This decision stipulates that EASO shall annex the report on access to documents to its annual report (Article 17)

12 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

EASOrsquos procedure on access to documents

Any person may exercise the right to access to documents held by EASO by making a request in writing If the document originates in a third party or is co-authored by a third party EASO consults the third party concerned The Executive Director of EASO replies to initial applications within 15 working days Refusals to grant access to the requested documents can only be based on specific exceptions If access to the document is not granted the requesting person may lodge a confirmatory application within 15 working days The Executive Director of EASO replies to confirmatory applications within 15 working days If access is refused following a confirmatory application the requesting person may bring an action in the Court of Justice of the European Union andor file a complaint with the European Ombudsman

The following chart describes the EASO processes on access to documents

Key developments on access to documents in 2012

In 2012 the first full year of operations EASO adopted its communication strategy confirming its commitment to promote openness and transparency communicating its activities by a consistent flow of information

EASO also launched its website (httpwwweasoeuropaeu) which serves as a platform for facilitating access to EASO documents

During the reference period EASO decided on initial and confirmatory requests as detailed hereunder

Initial applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 EASO received 13 initial requests to access nine documents Access was refused to two documents on the basis of the protection of privacy and integrity of the individual and on the basis of the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process (Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 and Article 3 of Management Board Decision No 6)

Confirmatory applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 one confirmatory request was presented to access one document The reply to this request con-firmed the application of the exception related to the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process

Complaints lodged to the European Ombudsman or actions brought in the CJEU

In 2012 no actions were brought in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and no complaints were filed with the European Ombudsman regarding EASOrsquos decisions on access to documents

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 7

(3) e

mer

genc

y su

ppor

t

(a) A

IP

ndashenspE

valu

atio

n AI

P ndash

enspAIP

mee

ting

ndash AI

P N

CP m

eetin

gndash

Eval

uatio

n an

d pr

opos

als t

o am

end

AIP

prof

iles (

lsquoAIP

20rsquo

) (M

ay)

ndash M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd d

ecisi

on o

n lsquoA

IP 2

0rsquo (J

une)

ndash Re

ques

t for

nom

inat

ions

for

lsquoAIP

20rsquo

(Jul

)ndash

Sett

ing

up lsquoA

IP 2

0rsquo (O

ctndash

Nov

)

(b) I

mpl

emen

ting

oper

atin

g pl

an

for G

reec

endash

10 A

sylu

m S

uppo

rt Te

ams

activ

e in

Gre

ece

ndash 15

Asy

lum

Sup

port

Team

s act

ive

in G

reec

e ndash

10 A

sylu

m S

uppo

rt Te

ams

activ

e in

Gre

ece

ndash 14

Asy

lum

Sup

port

Team

s act

ive

in G

reec

e

(4) I

nfor

mat

ion

and

anal

ysis

sup

port

(a) E

ASO

ann

ual r

epor

tndash

EASO

ann

ual r

epor

t and

act

ivity

re

port

pub

lishe

d (Ju

ne)

ndash Ci

vil s

ocie

ty in

vite

d to

send

co

mm

ents

on

annu

al re

port

(Ju

l)

ndash Br

eak-

out s

essio

ns in

Con

sulta

tive

Foru

m o

n an

nual

repo

rt

(b) E

arly

war

ning

and

Pr

epar

edne

ss S

yste

m

ndashenspp

rese

ntat

ions

on

anal

ysis

ndashenspt

rend

s re

gion

al o

utlo

ok

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

JHA

Co

unci

l IG

C N

urnb

erg

GDI

SC

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

and

in

form

al JH

A Co

unci

l Fr

onte

x

ndash Pr

esen

tatio

ns in

EAS

O

Man

agem

ent B

oard

qua

rter

ly

repo

rtndash

Wes

tern

Bal

kans

and

Syr

ia a

d ho

c re

port

sndash

Join

t pap

er o

n an

EPS

with

the

Com

miss

ion

as p

er A

rtic

le 3

3 of

th

e Du

blin

regu

latio

n

(5) T

hird

cou

ntry

sup

port

(a) R

eset

tlem

ent

ndash EA

SO re

sett

lem

ent s

emin

ar

(Oct

)(b

) Ext

erna

l dim

ensio

nndash

Part

icip

atio

n in

EU

ndashTun

isia

mob

ility

par

tner

ship

mee

ting

in T

unis

(Mar

)

ndash Pa

rtic

ipat

ion

in th

e Bu

dape

st

proc

ess

ndash Pa

rtic

ipat

ion

in th

e Bu

dape

st

proc

ess

ndash Pa

rtic

ipat

ion

in th

e la

unch

of

Euro

pean

Com

miss

ionndash

Jord

an

nego

tiatio

ns fo

r mob

ility

pa

rtne

rshi

p (D

ec)

8 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

(6) E

ASO

org

anis

atio

n

(a) R

ecru

it up

to 6

1 st

aff i

n EA

SOndash

15 st

aff r

ecru

ited

ndash 6

staf

f rec

ruite

d ndash

7 st

aff r

ecru

ited

ndash 7

staf

f rec

ruite

d

(b) I

mpl

emen

t EAS

O b

udge

t 201

2ndash

Fina

ncia

l ind

epen

denc

endash

Budg

et im

plem

enta

tion

Com

mitm

ent a

ppro

pria

tions

78

ndash

Paym

ent a

ppro

pria

tions

67

(c

) EAS

O M

anag

emen

t Boa

rdndash

EASO

Man

agem

ent B

oard

(F

eb)

ndash EA

SO M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd (J

une)

ndash EA

SO M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd

(Sep

)ndash

EASO

Man

agem

ent B

oard

(Nov

)

(d) M

ove

to th

e EA

SO d

efin

itive

pr

emise

s in

valle

tta

Harb

our

ndash Fi

nalis

atio

n of

gra

nt e

xten

sion

for c

ompl

etin

g th

e w

orks

ndash M

ove

to d

efin

itive

pre

mise

s (S

ep)

ndash Fi

nalis

atio

n w

orks

in d

efin

itive

pr

emise

s (gr

ound

floo

r) (D

ecndash

Ja

n 2

013)

(e) E

ASO

com

mun

icat

ion

stra

tegy

ndash EA

SO c

omm

unic

atio

n st

rate

gy

(June

)(f)

EAS

O w

ebsit

ew

eb p

orta

lndash

Laun

ch o

f tem

pora

ry E

ASO

w

ebsit

e (S

ep)

ndash La

unch

of d

efin

itive

EAS

O w

ebsit

e

(g) E

stab

lish

stro

ng c

oope

ratio

n re

latio

ns w

ith p

artn

ers a

nd

stak

ehol

ders

of E

ASO

ndash EA

SO h

earin

g at

Eur

opea

n Pa

rliam

ent (

LIBE

Com

mitt

ee)

(Jan

)ndash

EASO

join

s the

hea

ds o

f JHA

ag

enci

esrsquo n

etw

ork

and

the

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

(Feb

)ndash

Advi

sory

Com

mitt

ee o

f the

Fr

onte

x Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

(M

ar)

ndash Ad

viso

ry C

omm

ittee

of t

he

Fron

tex

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m

(Apr

)ndash

1st r

ound

of n

egot

iatio

ns w

ith

the

asso

ciat

ed c

ount

ies (

May

)ndash

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

mee

ting

(June

)ndash

Part

icip

atio

n in

EM

N n

atio

nal

cont

act p

oint

s mee

ting

(June

)

ndash Se

nior

man

agem

ent

cons

ulta

tions

bet

wee

n U

NHC

R an

d EA

SO (J

ul)

ndash W

orki

ng a

rran

gem

ent

betw

een

Fron

tex

and

EASO

sig

ned

(Sep

)ndash

2nd

roun

d of

neg

otia

tions

w

ith th

e as

soci

ated

cou

ntrie

s (S

ep)

ndash EA

SO jo

ins t

he In

tera

genc

y Le

gal N

etw

ork

(IALN

) (Se

p)

ndash 1s

t Fro

ntex

Con

sulta

tive

Foru

m

mee

ting

(Oct

)ndash

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

mee

ting

(Oct

)ndash

3rd

roun

d of

neg

otia

tions

with

the

asso

ciat

ed c

ount

ries (

Oct

)ndash

EASO

hea

ring

at E

urop

ean

Parli

amen

t (LI

BE C

omm

ittee

) (N

ov)

ndash St

art o

f neg

otia

tions

on

a w

orki

ng

arra

ngem

ent b

etw

een

EASO

and

UN

HCR

and

betw

een

EASO

and

FRA

ndash JH

A ag

enci

esrsquo m

eetin

g (D

ec)

(h) C

onsu

ltativ

e Fo

rum

Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

co

nsul

tatio

ns w

ith c

ivil

soci

ety

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

UM

tra

inin

gndash

Mee

ting

of th

e EA

SO

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m a

dviso

ry

grou

p (M

ar)

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

trai

ning

EAS

O w

orki

ng

prog

ram

me

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

qual

ity r

eset

tlem

ent

annu

al

repo

rtndash

Mee

ting

of th

e EA

SO

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m a

dviso

ry

grou

p (S

ep)

ndash Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

op

erat

iona

l pla

n pr

esen

ted

to

advi

sory

gro

up (S

ep)

ndash Se

cond

EAS

O C

onsu

ltativ

e Fo

rum

pl

enar

y m

eetin

g (N

ov)

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

rese

ttle

men

t CO

I tr

aini

ng E

PS

annu

al re

port

wor

k pr

ogra

mm

e

qual

ity a

nd U

M

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 9

52 Implementation of EASO actions under the Stockholm programme

In 2010 the European Unionrsquos Stockholm programme was adopted with an action plan for the 3 years from 2010ndash12 (2)

The Stockholm action plan clearly stipulates four priorities to be carried out by EASO

1 development of methods to better identify those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows and to cooperate with Frontex wherever possible

2 further development of a common educational platform for national asylum officials building on the European Asylum Curriculum in particular

3 development of a common methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions4 evaluation and development of procedures for facilitation of the secondment of officials in order to help

those Member States facing particular pressures of asylum seekers flows

The level of implementation by 2012 is given per priority defined for EASO

(1) Development of methods to better identify those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows and to cooperate with Frontex wherever possible

1 Methods of better identifying those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows together with Frontex lie in joint operational support activities to EU Member States and joint training on nation-ality establishment Following a request from Greece Frontex and EASO are currently cooperating in a first joint operation in Greece via the development of common training on nationality establishment for the staff of the first reception service and the asylum service This pilot training is part of the Operating Plan Greece Phase II and was to take place on 29 and 30 April 2013 in Athens (more regional locations to follow) Furthermore the experience gathered through the EASOndashFrontex cooperation will be used as input for other joint operations and for developing methods of better identifying those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows

2 A first joint EASOndashFrontex meeting was held in 2012 in order to develop guidelines for operational co-operation in case of a sudden arrival of mixed flows in Member States A meeting is planned to identify the opportunities in and explore the possibilities for establishing common or mixed teams from the pools with border management and asylum experts (in accordance with Article 3 of the EASOndashFrontex working arrangement of 26 September 2012)

(2) Further develop a common educational platform for national asylum officials building in particular the European Asylum Curriculum

According to its training strategy EASO already has developed a common educational platform for national asy-lum officials with a training curriculum of 13 modules In 2013 a new training module on management will be finalised All the training modules are regularly updated and the quality is ensured by the involvement of a refer-ence group (UNHCR European Commission ECRE Odysseus IARLJ)

The module lsquoEU Asylum Law and Policyrsquo is to be replaced in 2013 by a new module on the CEAS The training cockpit has been conceptualised to allow a clear view and help Member States in their implementation of the curriculum (training of their staff)

EASO training is a continuous process of providing an educational platform to EU Member States as well as a permanent process of updating content and tools to deliver the maximum quality

(2) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament the Council the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions lsquoDelivering an area of freedom security and justice for Europersquos citizens Action plan implementing the Stockholm programmersquo COM(2010) 171 final

10 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

(3) Development of a common methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions

Reducing disparities in asylum decisions also means taking a closer look behind the figures

bull Disparities in recognition rates can only be considered for similar flows For example aggregating a 95 acceptance rate from Syria and a 95 rejection rate from a similarly sized flow from Serbia and the former yugoslav Republic of Macedonia gives a total of 50 recognition but hides the real protection extended to asylum seekers

bull Furthermore the legal regimes used to accord international or national protection may be different between Member States or changed over time by the same Member States in regard to the same flow (eg the current case of Syria) Due to the lack of a common methodology these regime changes occur in a different way across the EU

bull Finally lsquounofficialrsquo practices and policies may be in use and change the interpretation that should be made of the official figures for instance leaving claims pending mdash in effect deciding not to decide mdash or rejecting claims while knowing that returns are impossible

EASO will analyse the data of EU Member States using quantitative and qualitative indicators in order to identify what kind of disparities are actually present before suggesting methodologies for minimising them In this regard EASO held a meeting with Member States on Syria in March 2013 together with the European Commission with the aim of understanding disparities of treatment of asylum cases from Syria This is a first step in reducing the overall disparity in asylum decisions During the meeting Member States were asked how they could improve homogeneity when facing crises such as the Syrian one including what regimes should be used in which circum-stances in the source country what signals could be used to indicate when the regimes used should be changed and what determines the change in acceptance rate over time

Training also contributes to the development of a common methodology on reducing disparities of asylum deci-sions because all asylum caseworkers are trained with the same curriculum and common understanding This has also been noticed by EU Member States for instance Finland remarked that its asylum decision-making is more in line with the CEAS since its staff have been trained via the EASO training sessions and curriculum

The quality matrix gives and will continue to give a clearer view of the situation in Member States on the various aspects of the CEAS It will identify needs and present ways to support Member States With regard to a com-mon methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions best practices and specific common approaches will be presented and discussed amongst all Member States A first thematic will be the lsquopersonal interviewrsquo with a meeting in March 2013 to be followed by other thematic meetings The list of existing initia-tives has already been completed and distributed

(4) Evaluation and development of procedures for facilitation of the secondment of officials in order to help those Member States facing particular pressures of asylum seekers flows

The Asylum Support Teams with experts from Member States deployed in Member States under particular pres-sure due to a high asylum influx are working well and the impact is noticed

An assessment of the Asylum Support Teams was presented at the EASO Management Board meeting in Novem-ber 2012 following a National Contact Point meeting A direct result of the positive evaluation was the addition of more profiles to the Asylum Intervention Pool in order to match more precisely the identified needs

In addition the Asylum Support Teams are continuously evaluated by both the host Member State and the experts themselves This approach will ensure a smooth functioning in cooperation with all the participants The support will also be evaluated in order to identify best practices and possible hurdles to be overcome With the evaluation of all participants special and emergency support aims at delivering support of the highest quality

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 11

53 EASO publications in 2012

During 2012 EASO published the following documents

Publication Languages in which the document was published

EASO annual report on the situation of asylum in the EU and on the activities of the European Asylum Support Office for 2011

All official EU languages

EASO brochure English French GermanEASO work programme 2013 All official EU languages10 editions of the EASO newsletter EnglishEASO communication strategy EnglishEASO training strategy EnglishEASO Country of Origin Information report lsquoAfghanistan Taliban strategies mdash Recruitmentrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin information report lsquoAfghanistan Insurgent strategies intimidation and targeted violence against Afghansrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin report methodology English French German Italian SpanishEASO fact finding report on intra-EU relocation activities from Malta

English

54 EASO annual report on access to documents

Introduction

Public sector information may be a significant economic political and social resource by adding value to the deci-sion-making processes and facilitating the developments of organisations individuals and society

Openness and availability of EU information enables citizens to participate more closely in the EU decision-mak-ing process By being transparent EU institutions and bodies are more effective and more accountable to the citizen Transparency also contributes to strengthening the principles of democracy and respect for fundamental rights

In this context access to documents is a right recognised in Article 15(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union In order to grant the right to access to documents and promote good governance EASO con-ducts its work as openly as possible

Article 17(1) of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May regarding public access to European Parliament Council and Commission documents foresees that each institution shall publish annually a report for the preceding year including the number of cases in which the institution refused to grant access to documents The aforementioned regulation applies to EASO according to Article 42 of Regulation (EU) No 4392010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 establishing EASO

Furthermore Decision No 6 of the Management Board of EASO of 20 September 2011 laid down practical arrangements on public access to EASO documents This decision stipulates that EASO shall annex the report on access to documents to its annual report (Article 17)

12 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

EASOrsquos procedure on access to documents

Any person may exercise the right to access to documents held by EASO by making a request in writing If the document originates in a third party or is co-authored by a third party EASO consults the third party concerned The Executive Director of EASO replies to initial applications within 15 working days Refusals to grant access to the requested documents can only be based on specific exceptions If access to the document is not granted the requesting person may lodge a confirmatory application within 15 working days The Executive Director of EASO replies to confirmatory applications within 15 working days If access is refused following a confirmatory application the requesting person may bring an action in the Court of Justice of the European Union andor file a complaint with the European Ombudsman

The following chart describes the EASO processes on access to documents

Key developments on access to documents in 2012

In 2012 the first full year of operations EASO adopted its communication strategy confirming its commitment to promote openness and transparency communicating its activities by a consistent flow of information

EASO also launched its website (httpwwweasoeuropaeu) which serves as a platform for facilitating access to EASO documents

During the reference period EASO decided on initial and confirmatory requests as detailed hereunder

Initial applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 EASO received 13 initial requests to access nine documents Access was refused to two documents on the basis of the protection of privacy and integrity of the individual and on the basis of the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process (Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 and Article 3 of Management Board Decision No 6)

Confirmatory applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 one confirmatory request was presented to access one document The reply to this request con-firmed the application of the exception related to the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process

Complaints lodged to the European Ombudsman or actions brought in the CJEU

In 2012 no actions were brought in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and no complaints were filed with the European Ombudsman regarding EASOrsquos decisions on access to documents

8 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

(6) E

ASO

org

anis

atio

n

(a) R

ecru

it up

to 6

1 st

aff i

n EA

SOndash

15 st

aff r

ecru

ited

ndash 6

staf

f rec

ruite

d ndash

7 st

aff r

ecru

ited

ndash 7

staf

f rec

ruite

d

(b) I

mpl

emen

t EAS

O b

udge

t 201

2ndash

Fina

ncia

l ind

epen

denc

endash

Budg

et im

plem

enta

tion

Com

mitm

ent a

ppro

pria

tions

78

ndash

Paym

ent a

ppro

pria

tions

67

(c

) EAS

O M

anag

emen

t Boa

rdndash

EASO

Man

agem

ent B

oard

(F

eb)

ndash EA

SO M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd (J

une)

ndash EA

SO M

anag

emen

t Boa

rd

(Sep

)ndash

EASO

Man

agem

ent B

oard

(Nov

)

(d) M

ove

to th

e EA

SO d

efin

itive

pr

emise

s in

valle

tta

Harb

our

ndash Fi

nalis

atio

n of

gra

nt e

xten

sion

for c

ompl

etin

g th

e w

orks

ndash M

ove

to d

efin

itive

pre

mise

s (S

ep)

ndash Fi

nalis

atio

n w

orks

in d

efin

itive

pr

emise

s (gr

ound

floo

r) (D

ecndash

Ja

n 2

013)

(e) E

ASO

com

mun

icat

ion

stra

tegy

ndash EA

SO c

omm

unic

atio

n st

rate

gy

(June

)(f)

EAS

O w

ebsit

ew

eb p

orta

lndash

Laun

ch o

f tem

pora

ry E

ASO

w

ebsit

e (S

ep)

ndash La

unch

of d

efin

itive

EAS

O w

ebsit

e

(g) E

stab

lish

stro

ng c

oope

ratio

n re

latio

ns w

ith p

artn

ers a

nd

stak

ehol

ders

of E

ASO

ndash EA

SO h

earin

g at

Eur

opea

n Pa

rliam

ent (

LIBE

Com

mitt

ee)

(Jan

)ndash

EASO

join

s the

hea

ds o

f JHA

ag

enci

esrsquo n

etw

ork

and

the

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

(Feb

)ndash

Advi

sory

Com

mitt

ee o

f the

Fr

onte

x Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

(M

ar)

ndash Ad

viso

ry C

omm

ittee

of t

he

Fron

tex

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m

(Apr

)ndash

1st r

ound

of n

egot

iatio

ns w

ith

the

asso

ciat

ed c

ount

ies (

May

)ndash

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

mee

ting

(June

)ndash

Part

icip

atio

n in

EM

N n

atio

nal

cont

act p

oint

s mee

ting

(June

)

ndash Se

nior

man

agem

ent

cons

ulta

tions

bet

wee

n U

NHC

R an

d EA

SO (J

ul)

ndash W

orki

ng a

rran

gem

ent

betw

een

Fron

tex

and

EASO

sig

ned

(Sep

)ndash

2nd

roun

d of

neg

otia

tions

w

ith th

e as

soci

ated

cou

ntrie

s (S

ep)

ndash EA

SO jo

ins t

he In

tera

genc

y Le

gal N

etw

ork

(IALN

) (Se

p)

ndash 1s

t Fro

ntex

Con

sulta

tive

Foru

m

mee

ting

(Oct

)ndash

JHA

agen

cies

rsquo con

tact

gro

up

mee

ting

(Oct

)ndash

3rd

roun

d of

neg

otia

tions

with

the

asso

ciat

ed c

ount

ries (

Oct

)ndash

EASO

hea

ring

at E

urop

ean

Parli

amen

t (LI

BE C

omm

ittee

) (N

ov)

ndash St

art o

f neg

otia

tions

on

a w

orki

ng

arra

ngem

ent b

etw

een

EASO

and

UN

HCR

and

betw

een

EASO

and

FRA

ndash JH

A ag

enci

esrsquo m

eetin

g (D

ec)

(h) C

onsu

ltativ

e Fo

rum

Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

co

nsul

tatio

ns w

ith c

ivil

soci

ety

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

UM

tra

inin

gndash

Mee

ting

of th

e EA

SO

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m a

dviso

ry

grou

p (M

ar)

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

trai

ning

EAS

O w

orki

ng

prog

ram

me

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

qual

ity r

eset

tlem

ent

annu

al

repo

rtndash

Mee

ting

of th

e EA

SO

Cons

ulta

tive

Foru

m a

dviso

ry

grou

p (S

ep)

ndash Co

nsul

tativ

e Fo

rum

op

erat

iona

l pla

n pr

esen

ted

to

advi

sory

gro

up (S

ep)

ndash Se

cond

EAS

O C

onsu

ltativ

e Fo

rum

pl

enar

y m

eetin

g (N

ov)

ndash Co

nsul

tatio

ns o

n in

ter a

lia

rese

ttle

men

t CO

I tr

aini

ng E

PS

annu

al re

port

wor

k pr

ogra

mm

e

qual

ity a

nd U

M

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 9

52 Implementation of EASO actions under the Stockholm programme

In 2010 the European Unionrsquos Stockholm programme was adopted with an action plan for the 3 years from 2010ndash12 (2)

The Stockholm action plan clearly stipulates four priorities to be carried out by EASO

1 development of methods to better identify those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows and to cooperate with Frontex wherever possible

2 further development of a common educational platform for national asylum officials building on the European Asylum Curriculum in particular

3 development of a common methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions4 evaluation and development of procedures for facilitation of the secondment of officials in order to help

those Member States facing particular pressures of asylum seekers flows

The level of implementation by 2012 is given per priority defined for EASO

(1) Development of methods to better identify those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows and to cooperate with Frontex wherever possible

1 Methods of better identifying those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows together with Frontex lie in joint operational support activities to EU Member States and joint training on nation-ality establishment Following a request from Greece Frontex and EASO are currently cooperating in a first joint operation in Greece via the development of common training on nationality establishment for the staff of the first reception service and the asylum service This pilot training is part of the Operating Plan Greece Phase II and was to take place on 29 and 30 April 2013 in Athens (more regional locations to follow) Furthermore the experience gathered through the EASOndashFrontex cooperation will be used as input for other joint operations and for developing methods of better identifying those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows

2 A first joint EASOndashFrontex meeting was held in 2012 in order to develop guidelines for operational co-operation in case of a sudden arrival of mixed flows in Member States A meeting is planned to identify the opportunities in and explore the possibilities for establishing common or mixed teams from the pools with border management and asylum experts (in accordance with Article 3 of the EASOndashFrontex working arrangement of 26 September 2012)

(2) Further develop a common educational platform for national asylum officials building in particular the European Asylum Curriculum

According to its training strategy EASO already has developed a common educational platform for national asy-lum officials with a training curriculum of 13 modules In 2013 a new training module on management will be finalised All the training modules are regularly updated and the quality is ensured by the involvement of a refer-ence group (UNHCR European Commission ECRE Odysseus IARLJ)

The module lsquoEU Asylum Law and Policyrsquo is to be replaced in 2013 by a new module on the CEAS The training cockpit has been conceptualised to allow a clear view and help Member States in their implementation of the curriculum (training of their staff)

EASO training is a continuous process of providing an educational platform to EU Member States as well as a permanent process of updating content and tools to deliver the maximum quality

(2) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament the Council the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions lsquoDelivering an area of freedom security and justice for Europersquos citizens Action plan implementing the Stockholm programmersquo COM(2010) 171 final

10 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

(3) Development of a common methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions

Reducing disparities in asylum decisions also means taking a closer look behind the figures

bull Disparities in recognition rates can only be considered for similar flows For example aggregating a 95 acceptance rate from Syria and a 95 rejection rate from a similarly sized flow from Serbia and the former yugoslav Republic of Macedonia gives a total of 50 recognition but hides the real protection extended to asylum seekers

bull Furthermore the legal regimes used to accord international or national protection may be different between Member States or changed over time by the same Member States in regard to the same flow (eg the current case of Syria) Due to the lack of a common methodology these regime changes occur in a different way across the EU

bull Finally lsquounofficialrsquo practices and policies may be in use and change the interpretation that should be made of the official figures for instance leaving claims pending mdash in effect deciding not to decide mdash or rejecting claims while knowing that returns are impossible

EASO will analyse the data of EU Member States using quantitative and qualitative indicators in order to identify what kind of disparities are actually present before suggesting methodologies for minimising them In this regard EASO held a meeting with Member States on Syria in March 2013 together with the European Commission with the aim of understanding disparities of treatment of asylum cases from Syria This is a first step in reducing the overall disparity in asylum decisions During the meeting Member States were asked how they could improve homogeneity when facing crises such as the Syrian one including what regimes should be used in which circum-stances in the source country what signals could be used to indicate when the regimes used should be changed and what determines the change in acceptance rate over time

Training also contributes to the development of a common methodology on reducing disparities of asylum deci-sions because all asylum caseworkers are trained with the same curriculum and common understanding This has also been noticed by EU Member States for instance Finland remarked that its asylum decision-making is more in line with the CEAS since its staff have been trained via the EASO training sessions and curriculum

The quality matrix gives and will continue to give a clearer view of the situation in Member States on the various aspects of the CEAS It will identify needs and present ways to support Member States With regard to a com-mon methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions best practices and specific common approaches will be presented and discussed amongst all Member States A first thematic will be the lsquopersonal interviewrsquo with a meeting in March 2013 to be followed by other thematic meetings The list of existing initia-tives has already been completed and distributed

(4) Evaluation and development of procedures for facilitation of the secondment of officials in order to help those Member States facing particular pressures of asylum seekers flows

The Asylum Support Teams with experts from Member States deployed in Member States under particular pres-sure due to a high asylum influx are working well and the impact is noticed

An assessment of the Asylum Support Teams was presented at the EASO Management Board meeting in Novem-ber 2012 following a National Contact Point meeting A direct result of the positive evaluation was the addition of more profiles to the Asylum Intervention Pool in order to match more precisely the identified needs

In addition the Asylum Support Teams are continuously evaluated by both the host Member State and the experts themselves This approach will ensure a smooth functioning in cooperation with all the participants The support will also be evaluated in order to identify best practices and possible hurdles to be overcome With the evaluation of all participants special and emergency support aims at delivering support of the highest quality

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 11

53 EASO publications in 2012

During 2012 EASO published the following documents

Publication Languages in which the document was published

EASO annual report on the situation of asylum in the EU and on the activities of the European Asylum Support Office for 2011

All official EU languages

EASO brochure English French GermanEASO work programme 2013 All official EU languages10 editions of the EASO newsletter EnglishEASO communication strategy EnglishEASO training strategy EnglishEASO Country of Origin Information report lsquoAfghanistan Taliban strategies mdash Recruitmentrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin information report lsquoAfghanistan Insurgent strategies intimidation and targeted violence against Afghansrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin report methodology English French German Italian SpanishEASO fact finding report on intra-EU relocation activities from Malta

English

54 EASO annual report on access to documents

Introduction

Public sector information may be a significant economic political and social resource by adding value to the deci-sion-making processes and facilitating the developments of organisations individuals and society

Openness and availability of EU information enables citizens to participate more closely in the EU decision-mak-ing process By being transparent EU institutions and bodies are more effective and more accountable to the citizen Transparency also contributes to strengthening the principles of democracy and respect for fundamental rights

In this context access to documents is a right recognised in Article 15(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union In order to grant the right to access to documents and promote good governance EASO con-ducts its work as openly as possible

Article 17(1) of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May regarding public access to European Parliament Council and Commission documents foresees that each institution shall publish annually a report for the preceding year including the number of cases in which the institution refused to grant access to documents The aforementioned regulation applies to EASO according to Article 42 of Regulation (EU) No 4392010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 establishing EASO

Furthermore Decision No 6 of the Management Board of EASO of 20 September 2011 laid down practical arrangements on public access to EASO documents This decision stipulates that EASO shall annex the report on access to documents to its annual report (Article 17)

12 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

EASOrsquos procedure on access to documents

Any person may exercise the right to access to documents held by EASO by making a request in writing If the document originates in a third party or is co-authored by a third party EASO consults the third party concerned The Executive Director of EASO replies to initial applications within 15 working days Refusals to grant access to the requested documents can only be based on specific exceptions If access to the document is not granted the requesting person may lodge a confirmatory application within 15 working days The Executive Director of EASO replies to confirmatory applications within 15 working days If access is refused following a confirmatory application the requesting person may bring an action in the Court of Justice of the European Union andor file a complaint with the European Ombudsman

The following chart describes the EASO processes on access to documents

Key developments on access to documents in 2012

In 2012 the first full year of operations EASO adopted its communication strategy confirming its commitment to promote openness and transparency communicating its activities by a consistent flow of information

EASO also launched its website (httpwwweasoeuropaeu) which serves as a platform for facilitating access to EASO documents

During the reference period EASO decided on initial and confirmatory requests as detailed hereunder

Initial applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 EASO received 13 initial requests to access nine documents Access was refused to two documents on the basis of the protection of privacy and integrity of the individual and on the basis of the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process (Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 and Article 3 of Management Board Decision No 6)

Confirmatory applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 one confirmatory request was presented to access one document The reply to this request con-firmed the application of the exception related to the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process

Complaints lodged to the European Ombudsman or actions brought in the CJEU

In 2012 no actions were brought in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and no complaints were filed with the European Ombudsman regarding EASOrsquos decisions on access to documents

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 9

52 Implementation of EASO actions under the Stockholm programme

In 2010 the European Unionrsquos Stockholm programme was adopted with an action plan for the 3 years from 2010ndash12 (2)

The Stockholm action plan clearly stipulates four priorities to be carried out by EASO

1 development of methods to better identify those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows and to cooperate with Frontex wherever possible

2 further development of a common educational platform for national asylum officials building on the European Asylum Curriculum in particular

3 development of a common methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions4 evaluation and development of procedures for facilitation of the secondment of officials in order to help

those Member States facing particular pressures of asylum seekers flows

The level of implementation by 2012 is given per priority defined for EASO

(1) Development of methods to better identify those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows and to cooperate with Frontex wherever possible

1 Methods of better identifying those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows together with Frontex lie in joint operational support activities to EU Member States and joint training on nation-ality establishment Following a request from Greece Frontex and EASO are currently cooperating in a first joint operation in Greece via the development of common training on nationality establishment for the staff of the first reception service and the asylum service This pilot training is part of the Operating Plan Greece Phase II and was to take place on 29 and 30 April 2013 in Athens (more regional locations to follow) Furthermore the experience gathered through the EASOndashFrontex cooperation will be used as input for other joint operations and for developing methods of better identifying those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows

2 A first joint EASOndashFrontex meeting was held in 2012 in order to develop guidelines for operational co-operation in case of a sudden arrival of mixed flows in Member States A meeting is planned to identify the opportunities in and explore the possibilities for establishing common or mixed teams from the pools with border management and asylum experts (in accordance with Article 3 of the EASOndashFrontex working arrangement of 26 September 2012)

(2) Further develop a common educational platform for national asylum officials building in particular the European Asylum Curriculum

According to its training strategy EASO already has developed a common educational platform for national asy-lum officials with a training curriculum of 13 modules In 2013 a new training module on management will be finalised All the training modules are regularly updated and the quality is ensured by the involvement of a refer-ence group (UNHCR European Commission ECRE Odysseus IARLJ)

The module lsquoEU Asylum Law and Policyrsquo is to be replaced in 2013 by a new module on the CEAS The training cockpit has been conceptualised to allow a clear view and help Member States in their implementation of the curriculum (training of their staff)

EASO training is a continuous process of providing an educational platform to EU Member States as well as a permanent process of updating content and tools to deliver the maximum quality

(2) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament the Council the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions lsquoDelivering an area of freedom security and justice for Europersquos citizens Action plan implementing the Stockholm programmersquo COM(2010) 171 final

10 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

(3) Development of a common methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions

Reducing disparities in asylum decisions also means taking a closer look behind the figures

bull Disparities in recognition rates can only be considered for similar flows For example aggregating a 95 acceptance rate from Syria and a 95 rejection rate from a similarly sized flow from Serbia and the former yugoslav Republic of Macedonia gives a total of 50 recognition but hides the real protection extended to asylum seekers

bull Furthermore the legal regimes used to accord international or national protection may be different between Member States or changed over time by the same Member States in regard to the same flow (eg the current case of Syria) Due to the lack of a common methodology these regime changes occur in a different way across the EU

bull Finally lsquounofficialrsquo practices and policies may be in use and change the interpretation that should be made of the official figures for instance leaving claims pending mdash in effect deciding not to decide mdash or rejecting claims while knowing that returns are impossible

EASO will analyse the data of EU Member States using quantitative and qualitative indicators in order to identify what kind of disparities are actually present before suggesting methodologies for minimising them In this regard EASO held a meeting with Member States on Syria in March 2013 together with the European Commission with the aim of understanding disparities of treatment of asylum cases from Syria This is a first step in reducing the overall disparity in asylum decisions During the meeting Member States were asked how they could improve homogeneity when facing crises such as the Syrian one including what regimes should be used in which circum-stances in the source country what signals could be used to indicate when the regimes used should be changed and what determines the change in acceptance rate over time

Training also contributes to the development of a common methodology on reducing disparities of asylum deci-sions because all asylum caseworkers are trained with the same curriculum and common understanding This has also been noticed by EU Member States for instance Finland remarked that its asylum decision-making is more in line with the CEAS since its staff have been trained via the EASO training sessions and curriculum

The quality matrix gives and will continue to give a clearer view of the situation in Member States on the various aspects of the CEAS It will identify needs and present ways to support Member States With regard to a com-mon methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions best practices and specific common approaches will be presented and discussed amongst all Member States A first thematic will be the lsquopersonal interviewrsquo with a meeting in March 2013 to be followed by other thematic meetings The list of existing initia-tives has already been completed and distributed

(4) Evaluation and development of procedures for facilitation of the secondment of officials in order to help those Member States facing particular pressures of asylum seekers flows

The Asylum Support Teams with experts from Member States deployed in Member States under particular pres-sure due to a high asylum influx are working well and the impact is noticed

An assessment of the Asylum Support Teams was presented at the EASO Management Board meeting in Novem-ber 2012 following a National Contact Point meeting A direct result of the positive evaluation was the addition of more profiles to the Asylum Intervention Pool in order to match more precisely the identified needs

In addition the Asylum Support Teams are continuously evaluated by both the host Member State and the experts themselves This approach will ensure a smooth functioning in cooperation with all the participants The support will also be evaluated in order to identify best practices and possible hurdles to be overcome With the evaluation of all participants special and emergency support aims at delivering support of the highest quality

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 11

53 EASO publications in 2012

During 2012 EASO published the following documents

Publication Languages in which the document was published

EASO annual report on the situation of asylum in the EU and on the activities of the European Asylum Support Office for 2011

All official EU languages

EASO brochure English French GermanEASO work programme 2013 All official EU languages10 editions of the EASO newsletter EnglishEASO communication strategy EnglishEASO training strategy EnglishEASO Country of Origin Information report lsquoAfghanistan Taliban strategies mdash Recruitmentrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin information report lsquoAfghanistan Insurgent strategies intimidation and targeted violence against Afghansrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin report methodology English French German Italian SpanishEASO fact finding report on intra-EU relocation activities from Malta

English

54 EASO annual report on access to documents

Introduction

Public sector information may be a significant economic political and social resource by adding value to the deci-sion-making processes and facilitating the developments of organisations individuals and society

Openness and availability of EU information enables citizens to participate more closely in the EU decision-mak-ing process By being transparent EU institutions and bodies are more effective and more accountable to the citizen Transparency also contributes to strengthening the principles of democracy and respect for fundamental rights

In this context access to documents is a right recognised in Article 15(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union In order to grant the right to access to documents and promote good governance EASO con-ducts its work as openly as possible

Article 17(1) of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May regarding public access to European Parliament Council and Commission documents foresees that each institution shall publish annually a report for the preceding year including the number of cases in which the institution refused to grant access to documents The aforementioned regulation applies to EASO according to Article 42 of Regulation (EU) No 4392010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 establishing EASO

Furthermore Decision No 6 of the Management Board of EASO of 20 September 2011 laid down practical arrangements on public access to EASO documents This decision stipulates that EASO shall annex the report on access to documents to its annual report (Article 17)

12 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

EASOrsquos procedure on access to documents

Any person may exercise the right to access to documents held by EASO by making a request in writing If the document originates in a third party or is co-authored by a third party EASO consults the third party concerned The Executive Director of EASO replies to initial applications within 15 working days Refusals to grant access to the requested documents can only be based on specific exceptions If access to the document is not granted the requesting person may lodge a confirmatory application within 15 working days The Executive Director of EASO replies to confirmatory applications within 15 working days If access is refused following a confirmatory application the requesting person may bring an action in the Court of Justice of the European Union andor file a complaint with the European Ombudsman

The following chart describes the EASO processes on access to documents

Key developments on access to documents in 2012

In 2012 the first full year of operations EASO adopted its communication strategy confirming its commitment to promote openness and transparency communicating its activities by a consistent flow of information

EASO also launched its website (httpwwweasoeuropaeu) which serves as a platform for facilitating access to EASO documents

During the reference period EASO decided on initial and confirmatory requests as detailed hereunder

Initial applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 EASO received 13 initial requests to access nine documents Access was refused to two documents on the basis of the protection of privacy and integrity of the individual and on the basis of the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process (Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 and Article 3 of Management Board Decision No 6)

Confirmatory applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 one confirmatory request was presented to access one document The reply to this request con-firmed the application of the exception related to the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process

Complaints lodged to the European Ombudsman or actions brought in the CJEU

In 2012 no actions were brought in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and no complaints were filed with the European Ombudsman regarding EASOrsquos decisions on access to documents

10 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

(3) Development of a common methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions

Reducing disparities in asylum decisions also means taking a closer look behind the figures

bull Disparities in recognition rates can only be considered for similar flows For example aggregating a 95 acceptance rate from Syria and a 95 rejection rate from a similarly sized flow from Serbia and the former yugoslav Republic of Macedonia gives a total of 50 recognition but hides the real protection extended to asylum seekers

bull Furthermore the legal regimes used to accord international or national protection may be different between Member States or changed over time by the same Member States in regard to the same flow (eg the current case of Syria) Due to the lack of a common methodology these regime changes occur in a different way across the EU

bull Finally lsquounofficialrsquo practices and policies may be in use and change the interpretation that should be made of the official figures for instance leaving claims pending mdash in effect deciding not to decide mdash or rejecting claims while knowing that returns are impossible

EASO will analyse the data of EU Member States using quantitative and qualitative indicators in order to identify what kind of disparities are actually present before suggesting methodologies for minimising them In this regard EASO held a meeting with Member States on Syria in March 2013 together with the European Commission with the aim of understanding disparities of treatment of asylum cases from Syria This is a first step in reducing the overall disparity in asylum decisions During the meeting Member States were asked how they could improve homogeneity when facing crises such as the Syrian one including what regimes should be used in which circum-stances in the source country what signals could be used to indicate when the regimes used should be changed and what determines the change in acceptance rate over time

Training also contributes to the development of a common methodology on reducing disparities of asylum deci-sions because all asylum caseworkers are trained with the same curriculum and common understanding This has also been noticed by EU Member States for instance Finland remarked that its asylum decision-making is more in line with the CEAS since its staff have been trained via the EASO training sessions and curriculum

The quality matrix gives and will continue to give a clearer view of the situation in Member States on the various aspects of the CEAS It will identify needs and present ways to support Member States With regard to a com-mon methodology with a view to reducing disparities of asylum decisions best practices and specific common approaches will be presented and discussed amongst all Member States A first thematic will be the lsquopersonal interviewrsquo with a meeting in March 2013 to be followed by other thematic meetings The list of existing initia-tives has already been completed and distributed

(4) Evaluation and development of procedures for facilitation of the secondment of officials in order to help those Member States facing particular pressures of asylum seekers flows

The Asylum Support Teams with experts from Member States deployed in Member States under particular pres-sure due to a high asylum influx are working well and the impact is noticed

An assessment of the Asylum Support Teams was presented at the EASO Management Board meeting in Novem-ber 2012 following a National Contact Point meeting A direct result of the positive evaluation was the addition of more profiles to the Asylum Intervention Pool in order to match more precisely the identified needs

In addition the Asylum Support Teams are continuously evaluated by both the host Member State and the experts themselves This approach will ensure a smooth functioning in cooperation with all the participants The support will also be evaluated in order to identify best practices and possible hurdles to be overcome With the evaluation of all participants special and emergency support aims at delivering support of the highest quality

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 11

53 EASO publications in 2012

During 2012 EASO published the following documents

Publication Languages in which the document was published

EASO annual report on the situation of asylum in the EU and on the activities of the European Asylum Support Office for 2011

All official EU languages

EASO brochure English French GermanEASO work programme 2013 All official EU languages10 editions of the EASO newsletter EnglishEASO communication strategy EnglishEASO training strategy EnglishEASO Country of Origin Information report lsquoAfghanistan Taliban strategies mdash Recruitmentrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin information report lsquoAfghanistan Insurgent strategies intimidation and targeted violence against Afghansrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin report methodology English French German Italian SpanishEASO fact finding report on intra-EU relocation activities from Malta

English

54 EASO annual report on access to documents

Introduction

Public sector information may be a significant economic political and social resource by adding value to the deci-sion-making processes and facilitating the developments of organisations individuals and society

Openness and availability of EU information enables citizens to participate more closely in the EU decision-mak-ing process By being transparent EU institutions and bodies are more effective and more accountable to the citizen Transparency also contributes to strengthening the principles of democracy and respect for fundamental rights

In this context access to documents is a right recognised in Article 15(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union In order to grant the right to access to documents and promote good governance EASO con-ducts its work as openly as possible

Article 17(1) of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May regarding public access to European Parliament Council and Commission documents foresees that each institution shall publish annually a report for the preceding year including the number of cases in which the institution refused to grant access to documents The aforementioned regulation applies to EASO according to Article 42 of Regulation (EU) No 4392010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 establishing EASO

Furthermore Decision No 6 of the Management Board of EASO of 20 September 2011 laid down practical arrangements on public access to EASO documents This decision stipulates that EASO shall annex the report on access to documents to its annual report (Article 17)

12 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

EASOrsquos procedure on access to documents

Any person may exercise the right to access to documents held by EASO by making a request in writing If the document originates in a third party or is co-authored by a third party EASO consults the third party concerned The Executive Director of EASO replies to initial applications within 15 working days Refusals to grant access to the requested documents can only be based on specific exceptions If access to the document is not granted the requesting person may lodge a confirmatory application within 15 working days The Executive Director of EASO replies to confirmatory applications within 15 working days If access is refused following a confirmatory application the requesting person may bring an action in the Court of Justice of the European Union andor file a complaint with the European Ombudsman

The following chart describes the EASO processes on access to documents

Key developments on access to documents in 2012

In 2012 the first full year of operations EASO adopted its communication strategy confirming its commitment to promote openness and transparency communicating its activities by a consistent flow of information

EASO also launched its website (httpwwweasoeuropaeu) which serves as a platform for facilitating access to EASO documents

During the reference period EASO decided on initial and confirmatory requests as detailed hereunder

Initial applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 EASO received 13 initial requests to access nine documents Access was refused to two documents on the basis of the protection of privacy and integrity of the individual and on the basis of the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process (Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 and Article 3 of Management Board Decision No 6)

Confirmatory applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 one confirmatory request was presented to access one document The reply to this request con-firmed the application of the exception related to the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process

Complaints lodged to the European Ombudsman or actions brought in the CJEU

In 2012 no actions were brought in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and no complaints were filed with the European Ombudsman regarding EASOrsquos decisions on access to documents

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 11

53 EASO publications in 2012

During 2012 EASO published the following documents

Publication Languages in which the document was published

EASO annual report on the situation of asylum in the EU and on the activities of the European Asylum Support Office for 2011

All official EU languages

EASO brochure English French GermanEASO work programme 2013 All official EU languages10 editions of the EASO newsletter EnglishEASO communication strategy EnglishEASO training strategy EnglishEASO Country of Origin Information report lsquoAfghanistan Taliban strategies mdash Recruitmentrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin information report lsquoAfghanistan Insurgent strategies intimidation and targeted violence against Afghansrsquo

English French German Italian Spanish

EASO Country of Origin report methodology English French German Italian SpanishEASO fact finding report on intra-EU relocation activities from Malta

English

54 EASO annual report on access to documents

Introduction

Public sector information may be a significant economic political and social resource by adding value to the deci-sion-making processes and facilitating the developments of organisations individuals and society

Openness and availability of EU information enables citizens to participate more closely in the EU decision-mak-ing process By being transparent EU institutions and bodies are more effective and more accountable to the citizen Transparency also contributes to strengthening the principles of democracy and respect for fundamental rights

In this context access to documents is a right recognised in Article 15(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union In order to grant the right to access to documents and promote good governance EASO con-ducts its work as openly as possible

Article 17(1) of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May regarding public access to European Parliament Council and Commission documents foresees that each institution shall publish annually a report for the preceding year including the number of cases in which the institution refused to grant access to documents The aforementioned regulation applies to EASO according to Article 42 of Regulation (EU) No 4392010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 establishing EASO

Furthermore Decision No 6 of the Management Board of EASO of 20 September 2011 laid down practical arrangements on public access to EASO documents This decision stipulates that EASO shall annex the report on access to documents to its annual report (Article 17)

12 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

EASOrsquos procedure on access to documents

Any person may exercise the right to access to documents held by EASO by making a request in writing If the document originates in a third party or is co-authored by a third party EASO consults the third party concerned The Executive Director of EASO replies to initial applications within 15 working days Refusals to grant access to the requested documents can only be based on specific exceptions If access to the document is not granted the requesting person may lodge a confirmatory application within 15 working days The Executive Director of EASO replies to confirmatory applications within 15 working days If access is refused following a confirmatory application the requesting person may bring an action in the Court of Justice of the European Union andor file a complaint with the European Ombudsman

The following chart describes the EASO processes on access to documents

Key developments on access to documents in 2012

In 2012 the first full year of operations EASO adopted its communication strategy confirming its commitment to promote openness and transparency communicating its activities by a consistent flow of information

EASO also launched its website (httpwwweasoeuropaeu) which serves as a platform for facilitating access to EASO documents

During the reference period EASO decided on initial and confirmatory requests as detailed hereunder

Initial applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 EASO received 13 initial requests to access nine documents Access was refused to two documents on the basis of the protection of privacy and integrity of the individual and on the basis of the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process (Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 and Article 3 of Management Board Decision No 6)

Confirmatory applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 one confirmatory request was presented to access one document The reply to this request con-firmed the application of the exception related to the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process

Complaints lodged to the European Ombudsman or actions brought in the CJEU

In 2012 no actions were brought in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and no complaints were filed with the European Ombudsman regarding EASOrsquos decisions on access to documents

12 mdash EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012

EASOrsquos procedure on access to documents

Any person may exercise the right to access to documents held by EASO by making a request in writing If the document originates in a third party or is co-authored by a third party EASO consults the third party concerned The Executive Director of EASO replies to initial applications within 15 working days Refusals to grant access to the requested documents can only be based on specific exceptions If access to the document is not granted the requesting person may lodge a confirmatory application within 15 working days The Executive Director of EASO replies to confirmatory applications within 15 working days If access is refused following a confirmatory application the requesting person may bring an action in the Court of Justice of the European Union andor file a complaint with the European Ombudsman

The following chart describes the EASO processes on access to documents

Key developments on access to documents in 2012

In 2012 the first full year of operations EASO adopted its communication strategy confirming its commitment to promote openness and transparency communicating its activities by a consistent flow of information

EASO also launched its website (httpwwweasoeuropaeu) which serves as a platform for facilitating access to EASO documents

During the reference period EASO decided on initial and confirmatory requests as detailed hereunder

Initial applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 EASO received 13 initial requests to access nine documents Access was refused to two documents on the basis of the protection of privacy and integrity of the individual and on the basis of the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process (Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 10492001 and Article 3 of Management Board Decision No 6)

Confirmatory applications on access to documents in 2012

During 2012 one confirmatory request was presented to access one document The reply to this request con-firmed the application of the exception related to the protection of EASOrsquos decision-making process

Complaints lodged to the European Ombudsman or actions brought in the CJEU

In 2012 no actions were brought in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and no complaints were filed with the European Ombudsman regarding EASOrsquos decisions on access to documents

EASO ANNUAL ACTIvITy REPORT 2012 mdash 13

55 EASOrsquos final annual accounts for 2012

In the roadmap on the follow-up to the common approach on EU decentralised agencies one of the initiatives initiative No 32 states that agencies will produce a single annual report A non-paper of the Commission services of January 2013 proposes streamlining the reporting obligations of decentralised agencies by providing a con-solidated annual activity report including comprehensive information on budgetary and financial management

EASO fully agrees with and supports this general approach to the reporting obligations of decentralised agen-cies Therefore EASO will not produce a different report with regard to the implementation of the budget and budgetary and financial management but will take over the suggestion to integrate the report by EASOrsquos Account-ing Officer into its annual activity report

European Asylum Support OfficeAnnual Report on the Situation of Asylum in the European Union 2012Luxembourg Publications Office of the European Union2013 mdash 13 pp mdash 21 times 297 cmISBN 978-92-9243-005-4doi10284744820

HOW TO OBTAIN EU PUBLICATIONS

Free publications bull one copy

via EU Bookshop (httpbookshopeuropaeu)

bull more than one copy or postersmaps from the European Unionrsquos representations (httpeceuropaeurepresent_enhtm) from the delegations in non-EU countries (httpeeaseuropaeudelegationsindex_enhtm) by contacting the Europe Direct service (httpeuropaeueuropedirectindex_enhtm) or calling 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (freephone number from anywhere in the EU) () () The information given is free as are most calls (though some operators phone boxes or hotels may charge you)

Priced publications bull via EU Bookshop (httpbookshopeuropaeu)

Priced subscriptions bull via one of the sales agents of the Publications Office of the European Union

(httppublicationseuropaeuothersagentsindex_enhtm)

European Asylum Support Offi ce

SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION

BZ-AD-13-001-EN-N

doi10284744820

EASO annual acti vity report 2012

Part II ANNEXES

European Asylum Support OfficeAnnual Report on the Situation of Asylum in the European Union 2012Luxembourg Publications Office of the European Union2013 mdash 13 pp mdash 21 times 297 cmISBN 978-92-9243-005-4doi10284744820

HOW TO OBTAIN EU PUBLICATIONS

Free publications bull one copy

via EU Bookshop (httpbookshopeuropaeu)

bull more than one copy or postersmaps from the European Unionrsquos representations (httpeceuropaeurepresent_enhtm) from the delegations in non-EU countries (httpeeaseuropaeudelegationsindex_enhtm) by contacting the Europe Direct service (httpeuropaeueuropedirectindex_enhtm) or calling 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (freephone number from anywhere in the EU) () () The information given is free as are most calls (though some operators phone boxes or hotels may charge you)

Priced publications bull via EU Bookshop (httpbookshopeuropaeu)

Priced subscriptions bull via one of the sales agents of the Publications Office of the European Union

(httppublicationseuropaeuothersagentsindex_enhtm)

European Asylum Support Offi ce

SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION

BZ-AD-13-001-EN-N

doi10284744820

EASO annual acti vity report 2012

Part II ANNEXES

HOW TO OBTAIN EU PUBLICATIONS

Free publications bull one copy

via EU Bookshop (httpbookshopeuropaeu)

bull more than one copy or postersmaps from the European Unionrsquos representations (httpeceuropaeurepresent_enhtm) from the delegations in non-EU countries (httpeeaseuropaeudelegationsindex_enhtm) by contacting the Europe Direct service (httpeuropaeueuropedirectindex_enhtm) or calling 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (freephone number from anywhere in the EU) () () The information given is free as are most calls (though some operators phone boxes or hotels may charge you)

Priced publications bull via EU Bookshop (httpbookshopeuropaeu)

Priced subscriptions bull via one of the sales agents of the Publications Office of the European Union

(httppublicationseuropaeuothersagentsindex_enhtm)

European Asylum Support Offi ce

SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION

BZ-AD-13-001-EN-N

doi10284744820

EASO annual acti vity report 2012

Part II ANNEXES

European Asylum Support Offi ce

SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION

BZ-AD-13-001-EN-N

doi10284744820

EASO annual acti vity report 2012

Part II ANNEXES