Changes from plenary report to adopted text

RemovedRecital 45: (45) The notion of national security and public order covers cases in which a third-country national belongs to an association which supports international terrorism. The notion of particularly serious crime includes offences such as participation in a criminal organisation, terrorism, trafficking in human beings, sexual exploitation of children, murder, grievous bodily injury, illicit trafficking in weapons, munitions and explosives, corruption, rape, and crimes within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

RemovedRecital 47: deleted

RemovedRecital 48: (48) Competent authorities may restrict the access to employed or self-employed activities as regard posts which involve the exercise of public authority, and responsibility for safeguarding the general interest of the State or other public authorities.

RemovedRecital 49: (49) In order to enhance the effective exercise of the rights and benefits laid down in this Regulation by beneficiaries of international protection, it is necessary to take into account their specific needs and the particular integration challenges with which they are confronted, and facilitate their access to integration related rights in particular as regards employment-related educational opportunities and vocational training and access to recognition and authentication procedures for foreign diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications in particular due to the lack of documentary evidence and their inability to meet the costs related to the recognition procedures.

RemovedRecital 49 a (new): (49a) In light of the fact that integration is a two-way process, respect for the values upon which the Union is founded and respect for the fundamental rights of the beneficiaries of international protection should be an integral part of the integration process. Integration should promote inclusion, rather than isolation, and the participation of all actors involved is crucial for its success. Member States, acting at national, regional and local level, should offer beneficiaries of international protection support and opportunities to integrate and build a life in their new society, which should include accommodation, literacy and language courses, inter-cultural dialogue, education and professional training, as well as effective access to democratic structures in society.

RemovedRecital 51: (51) In addition, especially to avoid social hardship, it is appropriate to provide beneficiaries of international protection with social assistance without discrimination. While the basis of protection may result in a different status determination, there is no difference in the material needs of the individual protected. In order to facilitate their integration, Member States should be given the possibility to make the access to certain types of social assistances specified in national law, conditional on the effective participation of the beneficiary of international protection in integration measures.

RemovedRecital 52: (52) Access to healthcare, including both physical and mental healthcare, as well as sexual and reproductive healthcare, should be ensured to beneficiaries of international protection.

RemovedRecital 52 a (new): (52a) Beneficiaries of international protection should enjoy access to goods and services and to the supply of goods and services made available to the public, including information and counselling services provided by employment offices.

RemovedRecital 53: (53) In order to facilitate the integration of beneficiaries of international protection into society, beneficiaries of international protection should have access to integration measures, in modalities to be set by the Member States. Member States may make the participation in such integration measures, such as language courses, civic integration courses, vocational training and other employment-related courses compulsory, provided that those integration measures are easily accessible, available and free of charge and that they take into account the special needs of beneficiaries of international protection, including childcare.

RemovedRecital 55: (55) In order to supplement this Regulation by specifying the form and content of the information to be provided to the beneficiaries of international protection on the rights and obligations related to their status, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making*. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts. / (deleted)

RemovedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3: (3) ‘refugee’ means a third-country national who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or membership of a particular social group, is outside the country of nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country, or a stateless person, who, being outside of the country of former habitual residence for the same reasons as mentioned , is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to return to it, and to whom Article 12 does not apply;

RemovedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point a: (a) the spouse of the beneficiary of international protection or his or her unmarried partner in a stable relationship, where the law or practice of the Member State concerned treats unmarried couples in a way comparable to married couples under its relevant national law;

RemovedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point b: (b) the minor children of the couples referred to in point (a) or of the beneficiary of international protection, the adult children for whom they have charge, regardless of whether they were born in or out of wedlock or adopted as defined or recognised under national law, as well as the children for whom they hold parental responsibility;

RemovedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 9 – point c: (c) where the beneficiary of international protection is a minor, the father, mother or another adult responsible for that beneficiary, whether by law or by practice of the Member State concerned;

RemovedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 10: (10) ‘minor’ means a third-country national or stateless person below the age of 18 years. This is to be assessed, where applicable, at the time his or her application for international protection is made;

RemovedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 15: deleted

RemovedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 16: (16) ‘determining authority’ means any judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative body in a Member State responsible for examining applications for international protection and competent to take decisions at first instance in such cases;

RemovedArticle 2 – paragraph 1 – point 19: (19) 'guardian' means a person or an organisation appointed by the competent bodies in order to assist and represent an unaccompanied minor in procedures provided for in this Regulation with a view to safeguarding the best interests of the child and his or her well-being and exercising legal capacity for the minor where necessary.

RemovedArticle 3 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 a (new): Without prejudice to paragraph 1, Member States shall keep the possibility to grant family members the refugee status or subsidiary protection status in accordance with their national laws, regardless of whether they are subject to a risk of persecution or serious harm, in order to establish a uniform legal status within the family.

RemovedArticle 4 – paragraph 1: 1. The applicant shall submit all the elements available to him or her which substantiate the application for international protection. The applicant shall cooperate with the determining authority throughout the procedure, including during the assessment of the relevant elements of the application. The applicant shall remain present and available throughout the procedure. Where, due to extenuating circumstances, the applicant is not available at any point during the procedure, those extenuating circumstances shall be taken into account when any decision is taken concerning the applicant or his or her application for international protection.

RemovedArticle 4 – paragraph 2: 2. The elements referred to in paragraph 1 shall consist of the applicant’s statements and all the documentation at the applicant’s disposal regarding the applicant’s age, background, including that of relevant relatives, identity, nationality(ies), country(ies) and place(s) of previous residence, previous applications [for international protection and results of any resettlement procedure, travel routes, travel documents and the reasons for applying for international protection.

RemovedArticle 4 – paragraph 3: 3. The determining authority shall assess the relevant elements of the application for international protection in accordance with Article 33 of Regulation (EU)XXX/XXX [Procedures regulation.]

RemovedArticle 4 – paragraph 4: 4. The fact that an applicant has already been subject to persecution or serious harm, or to direct threats of such persecution or such harm, shall be considered a serious indication of the applicant’s well-founded fear of persecution or real risk of suffering serious harm.

RemovedArticle 4 – paragraph 5 – introductory part: 5. Where aspects of the applicant’s statements are not supported by documentary or other evidence, no additional evidence shall be required in respect of those aspects and the applicant shall be granted the benefit of the doubt where the following conditions are met:

RemovedArticle 4 – paragraph 5 – point a: (a) the applicant has made a genuine effort to substantiate his or her application for international protection;

RemovedArticle 4 – paragraph 5 – point b: (b) all relevant elements at the applicant's disposal have been submitted

RemovedArticle 4 – paragraph 5 – point d: deleted

RemovedArticle 5 – paragraph 3: 3. Provided that any decision on the application for international protection taken is fully in line with the Geneva Convention, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, an applicant who files a subsequent application in accordance with Article 42 of Regulation (EU)XXX/XXX [Procedures regulation] may be refused refugee status or subsidiary protection status if the risk of persecution or the serious harm is based on circumstances which the applicant has created by his or her own decision since leaving the country of origin for the sole purpose of being granted international protection. This shall exclude any circumstances independent of the applicant's will, including but not limited to his or her sexual orientation and religious beliefs, which the applicant may have concealed to various degrees while in the country of origin.

RemovedArticle 6 – paragraph 1 – introductory part: Actors of persecution or serious harm can be:

RemovedArticle 7 – paragraph 1 – introductory part: 1. Protection against persecution or serious harm can only be provided by:

RemovedArticle 7 – paragraph 1 – point b: (b) parties or organisations which are mandated by the State and control the State or a substantial part of the territory of the State.

RemovedArticle 7 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2: as long as they are willing and able to provide full, effective and durable protection against persecution or serious harm.

RemovedArticle 7 – paragraph 2: deleted

RemovedArticle 7 – paragraph 3: 3. When assessing whether an international organisation controls a State or a substantial part of its territory and provides protection as referred to in paragraph 2, determining authorities may take into account any guidance provided in relevant Union law, in particular available Union level country of origin information and the common analysis of country of origin information referred to in Articles 8 and 10 of Regulation (EU) No XXX/XX [ Regulation on the European Union Agency for Asylum ].

RemovedArticle 8 – paragraph 1 – introductory part: 1. As part of the assessment of the application for international protection, and provided that the State or agents of the State are not the actors of persecution or serious harm, the determining authority may determine that an applicant is not in need of international protection if he or she can safely and legally travel to and gain admittance to a part of the country of origin and can reasonably be expected to settle there and if, in that part of the country, he or she:

RemovedArticle 8 – paragraph 1 – point b: (b) has access to full, effective and durable protection against persecution or serious harm.

RemovedArticle 8 – paragraph 2: 2. Without prejudice to Article 4(1), the burden of demonstrating the availability of internal protection shall rest on the determining authority. That shall not preclude the applicant from presenting evidence to rebut any finding by the determining authority that internal protection is available. The applicant shall not be required to prove that, before seeking international protection, he or she has exhausted all possibilities to obtain protection in his or her country of origin.

RemovedArticle 8 – paragraph 4: 4. When considering the general circumstances prevailing in that part of the country which is the source of the protection as referred to in Article 7, the accessibility, effectiveness and durability of that protection shall be taken into account. When considering personal circumstances of the applicant, health, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnic origin, membership of a national minority and social status shall in particular be taken into account together with an assessment of whether living in the part of the country of origin regarded as safe would not impose undue hardship on the applicant.

RemovedArticle 8 – paragraph 4 a (new): 4a. Any decision not to provide international protection to a minor, whether accompanied or not, based on the availability of internal protection, shall be preceded by a formal procedure to determine the best interests of the minor. Where the applicant is an unaccompanied minor, the availability of appropriate care, custodial arrangements and durable solutions for his or her development should be part of the assessment of whether the protection is effectively guaranteed within the area where internal protection is presumed to exist.

RemovedArticle 9 – paragraph 1 – point a: (a) it is sufficiently serious by its nature or repetition as to constitute a severe violation of human rights, in particular the rights from which derogation cannot be made under Article 15(2) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; or

RemovedArticle 9 – paragraph 2 – point a: (a) acts of physical or mental violence, including acts of sexual violence or trafficking for sexual exploitation;

RemovedArticle 9 – paragraph 2 – point e: (e) prosecution or punishment for refusal to perform military service on moral, religious or political grounds or due to belonging to a particular ethnic group or holding a particular citizenship and, in particular, where performing military service would include crimes or acts falling within the scope of the grounds for exclusion as set out in Article 12(2);

RemovedArticle 9 – paragraph 2 – point f: (f) acts of a gender-specific or child-specific nature, such as under-age recruitment, genital mutilation, forced marriage, child trafficking and child labour, domestic violence, trafficking for sexual exploitation, and violations of economic, social and cultural rights.

RemovedArticle 10 – paragraph 1 – point d – introductory part: (d) the concept of membership of a particular social group shall include, in particular, a group where:

RemovedArticle 10 – paragraph 1 – point d – indent 1: - members share an innate characteristic, or a common background that cannot be changed, or share a characteristic or belief that is so fundamental to identity or conscience that a person should not be forced to renounce it, or

RemovedArticle 10 – paragraph 1 – point d – subparagraph 2: depending on the circumstances in the country of origin, the concept shall include a group based on a common characteristic of sexual orientation and gender related aspects, including gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, and the fact of having been a victim of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Those aspects shall be given due consideration for the purposes of determining membership of a particular social group or identifying a characteristic of such a group;

RemovedArticle 10 – paragraph 3: 3. When assessing if an applicant has a well-founded fear of being persecuted, the determining authority cannot reasonably expect an applicant to behave discreetly or abstain from certain practices, where such behaviour or practices are inherent to his or her identity or conscience, to avoid the risk of persecution in his or her country of origin.

RemovedArticle 11 – paragraph 2 – point b: (b) shall take into account precise and up-to-date information obtained from all relevant sources, including Union level country of origin information and common analysis of country of origin information referred to in Articles 8 and 10 of the Regulation (EU) No XXX/XX [Regulation on the European Union Agency for Asylum] or information and guidance issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee.

RemovedArticle 12 – paragraph 1 – introductory part: 1. A third-country national or a stateless person shall be excluded from being a refugee under the scope of this Regulation if:

RemovedArticle 12 – paragraph 2 – point c: (c) he or she has been guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations as set out in the Preamble and Articles 1 and 2 of the Charter of the United Nations, including convictions on the grounds of participation in the activities of a terrorist group.

RemovedArticle 12 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 a (new): The determining authority may apply this paragraph only after it has undertaken, for each individual case, an assessment of the specific facts brought to its attention, with a view to determining whether there are serious reasons for considering that the acts committed by the person in question, who otherwise satisfies the qualifying conditions for refugee status, fall within the scope of points (a), (b) or (c) of the first subparagraph.

RemovedArticle 12 – paragraph 3 a (new): 3a. Paragraph 2 shall not apply to minors.

RemovedArticle 12 – paragraph 5: deleted / (deleted) / (deleted)

RemovedArticle 12 – paragraph 6: deleted

RemovedArticle 14 – title: Withdrawal of refugee status / (This amendment applies throughout the text. Adopting it will necessitate corresponding changes throughout.)

RemovedArticle 14 – paragraph 1 – introductory part: 1. The determining authority shall withdraw the refugee status of a third-country national or stateless person where:

RemovedArticle 14 – paragraph 1 – point d: (d) there are reasonable grounds for regarding that he or she, having been convicted by a final judgment of a particularly serious crime, is a danger to the security of the Member State in which he or she is present;

RemovedArticle 14 – paragraph 1 – point e: deleted

RemovedArticle 14 – paragraph 1 – point f: deleted

RemovedArticle 14 – paragraph 2: 2. In the situation referred to in point (d) of paragraph 1, the determining authority may decide not to grant status to a refugee, where such a decision has not yet been taken.