European Union (Subsidiary Protection) Regulations 2017.

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 409/2017

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 26th September, 2017.

I, CHARLES FLANAGAN, Minister for Justice and Equality, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving further effect to Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 20041 and, in relation to Regulation 7 of the following regulations, Regulation (EU) No. 603/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 20132 , hereby make the following regulations:

Citation and commencement

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Union (Subsidiary Protection) Regulations 2017.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on 2 October 2017.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations—

“Act of 1996” means the Refugee Act 1996 (No. 17 of 1996);

“Act of 2015” means the International Protection Act 2015 (No. 66 of 2015);

“application for international protection”, “chief international protection officer” and “international protection officer” have the meanings they have in the Act of 2015;

“EU Regulation” means Regulation (EU) No. 603/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 20132;

“Minister” means the Minister for Justice and Equality;

“refugee status” and “subsidiary protection status” shall be construed in accordance with Article 2 of Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 20041;

“Regulations of 2006” means the European Communities (Eligibility for Protection) Regulations 2006 ( S.I. No. 518 of 2006 );

“Regulations of 2013” means the European Union (Subsidiary Protection) Regulations 2013 ( S.I. No. 426 of 2013 );

“relevant date” means the date, referred to in Regulation 1(2), on which these Regulations come into operation;

Person to whom Regulation 3 applies

3. This Regulation applies to a person to whom the following, on the relevant date, apply-

(a) he or she is a person—

(i) to whom a notification referred to in Regulation 4(1) of the Regulations of 2006 was sent and who did not make an application for subsidiary protection under those Regulations within the period referred to in that paragraph, or

(ii) to whom a notice under section 17(5) (as amended by Regulation 34 of the Regulations of 2013) of the Act of 1996 was sent and who did not make an application for a subsidiary protection declaration under the Regulations of 2013 within the period specified in the notice,

(b) he or she, after the expiry of the period referred to in subparagraph (i) or (ii), as the case may be, of paragraph (a)—

(i) did not make an application for subsidiary protection under the Regulations of 2006 or, as the case may be, an application for a subsidiary protection declaration under the Regulations of 2013, as he or she believed that he or she, due to the expiry of the period concerned, was no longer entitled to do so, or

(ii) made an application referred to in subparagraph (i), which application was, on the basis that the period had expired, not considered or investigated under the Regulations concerned,

(c) he or she does not enjoy refugee status or subsidiary protection status in the State or in another Member State, and

(d) he or she is present in the State.

Person to whom Regulation 3 applies may make application for subsidiary protection declaration

4. (1) A person to whom Regulation 3 applies may make an application for a subsidiary protection declaration under this Regulation.

(2) An application under this Regulation for a subsidiary protection declaration shall be—

(a) subject to Regulation 6, made within 30 working days from the relevant date,

(b) made in person to the chief international protection officer,

(c) in the form specified in Schedule 1 or a form to the like effect, and

(d) accompanied by statutory declaration, in the form specified in Schedule 2 or a form to the like effect, made by the applicant and stating that he or she is a person to whom Regulation 3 applies.

Provisions applicable to application under Regulation 4

5. Where an application for a subsidiary protection declaration is made in accordance with Regulation 4(2), notwithstanding the repeal of the Regulations of 2013 by section 6 of the Act of 2015—

(a) the application shall be deemed to be an application for a subsidiary protection declaration under the Regulations of 2013, made in accordance with Regulation 3(1) of those Regulations, and

(b) the Regulations of 2013 shall, for the purpose of the application, apply subject to the following modifications and any other necessary modifications:

(i) the functions conferred on the Refugee Applications Commissioner by those Regulations may, for the purposes of the application, be performed by an international protection officer;

(ii) the functions conferred on the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, the chairperson of and a member of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal by those Regulations may, for the purposes of the application, be performed, respectively, by the International Protection Appeals Tribunal, the chairperson of and a member of the International Protection Appeals Tribunal;

(iii) in the event that the applicant is given, under Regulation 20 of the Regulations of 2013, a subsidiary protection declaration, the declaration shall be deemed to be a subsidiary protection declaration given to the person under the Act of 2015 and the provisions of the Act of 2015 shall apply accordingly.

Permission to make application for subsidiary protection declaration in certain circumstances

6. (1) A person to whom section 70(7)(ii) of the Act of 2015 applies who does not apply for a subsidiary protection declaration within the period specified in the notice referred to in that subparagraph may make such an application where the Minister gives him or her a permission under paragraph (4) to do so.

(2) A person to whom Regulation 3 applies who does not make an application under Regulation 4 within the period specified in Regulation 4(2)(a) may make such an application where the Minister gives him or her a permission under paragraph (4) to do so.

(3) A request for a permission under paragraph (4) to make an application referred to in paragraph (1) or (2) shall state the reasons why the person concerned was not able to make the application within the period referred to in the paragraph concerned.

(4) The Minister, on receipt of a request referred to in paragraph (3), shall give the person a permission to make the application concerned only where the Minister is satisfied that—

(a) the person has demonstrated that there were special circumstances as to why the application concerned could not have been made within the period referred to in paragraph (1) or, as the case may be, paragraph (2), and

(b) in the circumstances concerned, it would be unjust not to permit the person to make the application concerned.

Power to take fingerprints

7. (1) An officer of the Minister may, for the purpose of compliance with the EU Regulation, take or cause to be taken the fingerprints of an applicant who—

(a) is not a citizen of a Member State, and

(b) has attained the age of 14 years.

(2) If and...