Juxtaposing proposed EU rules with the Greek reception and identification procedure
The European Commission proposal for a Screening Regulation is largely modelled on the “reception and identification procedure” (διαδικασία υποδοχής και ταυτοποίησης) applicable to all irregularly arriving persons in Greece. The majority of its provisions correspond to, if not mirror, provisions in Greek legislation which set out key elements of the process such as restrictions on liberty, identification, registration, medical check, vulnerability assessment, and referral to asylum or other procedures. To that end, an in-depth understanding of the procedure is essential to identifying pitfalls and concerns attached to the Screening Regulation proposal at an early stage of negotiations within the Council and the European Parliament, with a view to promoting better law-making and sound reform of EU law.
The correlation table presented below provides a point-by-point comparison of the main provisions of the Screening Regulation proposal with relevant domestic legislation, namely L 4375/2016 and L 4636/2019 (IPA). It also offers a detailed analysis of the implementation of the reception and identification procedure in practice, drawing on up-to-date information complemented by observations from civil society organisations supporting asylum seekers in the country. The information provided in the correlation table has been collected through a collaborative effort of civil society organisations Refugee Support Aegean (RSA), HIAS Greece, Greek Council for Refugees, Danish Refugee Council, Legal Centre Lesvos, FENIX Humanitarian Legal Aid, ActionAid Hellas and Mobile Info Team, and legal practitioners.
