Directive 2004/83 - Minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted

Please note

This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.

1.

Current status

This directive was in effect from October 20, 2004 until December 20, 2013 and should have been implemented in national regulation on October 10, 2006 at the latest.

2.

Key information

official title

Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted
 
Legal instrument Directive
Number legal act Directive 2004/83
Original proposal COM(2001)510 EN
CELEX number i 32004L0083

3.

Key dates

Document 29-04-2004
Publication in Official Journal 30-09-2004; Special edition in Hungarian: Chapter 19 Volume 007,Special edition in Slovenian: Chapter 19 Volume 007,Special edition in Czech: Chapter 19 Volume 007,Special edition in Polish: Chapter 19 Volume 007,Special edition in Bulgarian: Chapter 19 Volume 007,Special edition in Estonian: Chapter 19 Volume 007,Special edition in Maltese: Chapter 19 Volume 007,Special edition in Lithuanian: Chapter 19 Volume 007,Special edition in Croatian: Chapter 19 Volume 012,Special edition in Slovak: Chapter 19 Volume 007,OJ L 304, 30.9.2004,Special edition in Latvian: Chapter 19 Volume 007,Special edition in Romanian: Chapter 19 Volume 007
Effect 20-10-2004; Entry into force Date pub. +20 See Art 39
End of validity 20-12-2013; Partial end of validity See 32011L0095 Art. 40
31-12-9999; Partial end of validity See 32024R1347 Art. 41
Transposition 10-10-2006; At the latest See Art 38.1

4.

Legislative text

30.9.2004   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 304/12

 

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2004/83/EC

of 29 April 2004

on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular points 1(c), 2(a) and 3(a) of Article 63 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (3),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (4),

Whereas:

 

(1)

A common policy on asylum, including a Common European Asylum System, is a constituent part of the European Union's objective of progressively establishing an area of freedom, security and justice open to those who, forced by circumstances, legitimately seek protection in the Community.

 

(2)

The European Council at its special meeting in Tampere on 15 and 16 October 1999 agreed to work towards establishing a Common European Asylum System, based on the full and inclusive application of the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951 (Geneva Convention), as supplemented by the New York Protocol of 31 January 1967 (Protocol), thus affirming the principle of non-refoulement and ensuring that nobody is sent back to persecution.

 

(3)

The Geneva Convention and Protocol provide the cornerstone of the international legal regime for the protection of refugees.

 

(4)

The Tampere conclusions provide that a Common European Asylum System should include, in the short term, the approximation of rules on the recognition of refugees and the content of refugee status.

 

(5)

The Tampere conclusions also provide that rules regarding refugee status should be complemented by measures on subsidiary forms of protection, offering an appropriate status to any person in need of such protection.

 

(6)

The main objective of this Directive is, on the one hand, to ensure that Member States apply common criteria for the identification of persons genuinely in need of international protection, and, on the other hand, to ensure that a minimum level of benefits is available for these persons in all Member States.

 

(7)

The approximation of rules on the recognition and content of refugee and subsidiary protection status should help to limit the secondary movements of applicants for asylum between Member States, where such movement is purely caused by differences in legal frameworks.

 

(8)

It is in the very nature of minimum standards that Member States should have the power to introduce or maintain more favourable provisions for third country nationals or stateless persons who request international protection from a Member State, where such a request is understood to be on the grounds that the person concerned is either a refugee within the meaning of Article 1(A) of the Geneva Convention, or a person who otherwise needs international protection.

 

(9)

Those third country nationals or stateless persons, who are allowed to remain in the territories of the Member States for reasons not due to a need for international protection but on a discretionary basis on compassionate or humanitarian grounds, fall outside the scope of this Directive.

 

(10)

This Directive respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. In particular this Directive seeks to ensure full respect for human dignity and the right to asylum of applicants...


More

This text has been adopted from EUR-Lex.

5.

Original proposal

 

6.

Sources and disclaimer

For further information you may want to consult the following sources that have been used to compile this dossier:

This dossier is compiled each night drawing from aforementioned sources through automated processes. We have invested a great deal in optimising the programming underlying these processes. However, we cannot guarantee the sources we draw our information from nor the resulting dossier are without fault.

 

7.

Full version

This page is also available in a full version containing the summary of legislation, de geconsolideerde versie, the legal context, de Europese rechtsgrond, other dossiers related to the dossier at hand and finally the related cases of the European Court of Justice.

The full version is available for registered users of the EU Monitor by ANP and PDC Informatie Architectuur.

8.

EU Monitor

The EU Monitor enables its users to keep track of the European process of lawmaking, focusing on the relevant dossiers. It automatically signals developments in your chosen topics of interest. Apologies to unregistered users, we can no longer add new users.This service will discontinue in the near future.