1999/290/JHA: Joint Action of 26 April 1999 adopted by the Council on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union, establishing projects and measures to provide practical support in relation to the reception and voluntary repatriation of refugees, displaced persons and asylum seekers, including emergency assistance to persons who have fled as a result of recent events in Kosovo
Date: 1999-04-26
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU Member State, Kosovo, aid to refugees, emergency aid, refugee, war

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(Acts adopted pursuant to Title VI of the Treaty on European Union)

JOINT ACTION

of 26 April 1999

adopted by the Council on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European
Union, establishing projects and measures to provide practical support in rela-
tion to the reception and voluntary repatriation of refugees, displaced persons
and asylum seekers, including emergency assistance to persons who have fled as a
result of recent events in Kosovo

(1999/290/JHA)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union and, in
particular, Articles K.3(2)(b) and K.8(2) thereof,

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

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia-
ment (2),

(6) Whereas it may be necessary to provide emergency
assistance for the reception in the Member States of
refugees, displaced persons and asylum seekers who
have fled from Kosovo and from neighbouring
regions as a result of recent events there;

(7) Whereas it is useful to promote the exchange of
good practice and comparable experience, in order
to develop new synergies which cannot be achieved
at national levels;

(1) Whereas, pursuant to Article K.1 of the Treaty,
asylum policy, inter alia, is regarded as a matter of
common interest by the Member States;

(8) Whereas it is appropriate to provide for financing
from the budget of the European Communities
measures adopted under this Joint Action;

(2) Whereas it is important to grant refugees appro-
priate protection, in keeping with Member States’
common humanitarian tradition and in accordance
with the Convention relating to the Status of Refu-
gees of 28 July 1951, as amended by the New York
Protocol of 31 January 1967;

(3) Whereas account must be taken of the Member
States’ obligations under the European Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Funda-
mental Freedoms of 4 November 1950;

(4) Whereas

it

is necessary to ensure appropriate
conditions for the reception of asylum seekers, and
to facilitate access to asylum procedures which are
fair and efficient, in order to protect the rights of
refugees;

(5) Whereas it is necessary to provide practical support
in order to create or improve the conditions in
which refugees, displaced persons and asylum
seekers who wish to return from the Member States
to their countries of origin are able to do so;

(1) OJ C 37, 11.2.1999, p. 4.
(2) Opinion delivered on 13 April 1999 (not yet published in the

Official Journal).

(9) Whereas taking joint action in relation to the
reception of displaced persons and asylum seekers
and the voluntary repatriation of refugees, displaced
persons and asylum seekers may promote the
sharing of responsibility and the reinforcement of
cooperation between the Member States,

HAS ADOPTED THIS JOINT ACTION:

CHAPTER I

OBJECT AND SCOPE

Article 1

Principles and objectives of
measures

the projects and

The European Union shall support projects and
1.
measures in relation to the reception and voluntary repat-
riation of refugees, displaced persons and asylum seekers,
which shall qualify for Community financial support.

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The general objectives of the projects and measures

2.
shall be:

2.

For the purpose of Article 1(2)(b) and Article 5:

(a) to improve

the

conditions

in which refugees,
displaced persons and asylum seekers are received in
the Member States, and to support asylum procedures
which are fair, efficient and accessible to persons in
need of international protection;

(b) to assist

the

voluntary repatriation of

refugees,
displaced persons and asylum seekers
from the
Member States to their countries of origin, and their
reintegration there.

3. Measures taken under this Joint Action may also
include emergency assistance in Member States which
receive, in particular following an initiative of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a significant
number of refugees, displaced persons and asylum seekers
who have fled from Kosovo and from neighbouring
regions as a result of recent events there.

Article 2

Financial reference for the programme

The financial reference amount for the implementation of
this programme for the year 1999 shall be EUR 15
million, subject
to further revision by the budgetary
authority.

Article 3

Definitions

For the purpose of Article 1 (2)(a), Article 4 and

1.
Article 6:

(a)

(b)

‘refugees' shall mean persons who have obtained
refugee status within the meaning of Article 1 of the
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 28
July 1951, as amended by the New York Protocol of
31 January 1967;

‘displaced persons'
shall mean persons granted
permission to stay in a Member State under temporary
protection, or under subsidiary forms of protection, or
persons benefiting from other forms of protection in
accordance with Member States’ international obliga-
tions and national law and persons seeking permission
to remain on such grounds who are awaiting a
decision on their status;

(c)

‘asylum seekers'
shall mean persons who have
requested protection from a Member State by
claiming refugee status within the meaning of Article
1 of the Convention referred to in (a), and in respect
of whose requests a final decision has not yet been
taken.

(a)

‘refugees' shall have the same meaning as in para-
graph 1(a);

(b)

‘displaced persons'
shall mean persons granted
permission to stay in a Member State under temporary
protection, or under subsidiary forms of protection, or
persons benefiting from other forms of protection in
accordance with Member States’ international obliga-
tions and national law, including persons in respect of
whose requests a final negative decision has been
taken, but who have not yet departed from the terri-
tory of the Member States;

(c)

‘asylum seekers'
shall mean persons who have
requested protection from a Member State by
claiming refugee status within the meaning of Article
1 of the Convention referred to in paragraph 1(a),
including persons in respect of whose requests a final
negative decision has been taken, but who have not
yet departed from the territory of the Member States.

Article 4

Reception

Measures to improve the conditions in which refugees,
displaced persons and asylum seekers are received in the
Member States and to support asylum procedures which
are fair, efficient and accessible to persons in need of
international protection shall primarily
the
following areas:

cover

(a) measures to support the creation or improvement of
infrastructures in the Member States for the reception
of refugees, displaced persons and asylum seekers;

(b) the enhancement of the fairness and efficiency of
administrative and judicial asylum procedures and the
facilitation of access to them, including the provision
of:
legal assistance and other counselling services;
interpretation services; information on the procedure
to be followed, and the rights and obligations of the
asylum applicant during the procedure; access to
precise and up-to-date information concerning the
country;

(c) the ensuring of a basic standard of living conditions
for refugees, displaced persons and asylum seekers,
including accommodation, medical care, education
and training;

(d) special assistance to vulnerable groups, such as unac-
companied minors, victims of torture or rape, and
people requiring special medical treatment;

(e) the provision of information to the public on Member
States’ obligations to persons seeking international
protection and the European Union’s asylum policy,
including public awareness measures complementing
other measures financed under this Joint Action.

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Article 5

Voluntary repatriation

Article 7

Financing criteria

1. Measures to assist the voluntary repatriation of refu-
gees, displaced persons and asylum seekers from the
Member States to their countries of origin, and their rein-
tegration there, shall primarily cover the following areas:

The projects or measures to be financed from the budget
of the European Communities shall be subject to a selec-
tion procedure taking into account
in particular the
following criteria:

(a) the collection and dissemination of information on all
aspects relevant to return, including the economic and
administrative situation in the country of origin,
employment opportunity, property rights and other
legal matters;

(b) counselling to assist both persons who are considering
whether to return voluntarily to their country of origin
and those who have decided in principle to return;

(c) training and education, with the aim of providing
refugees, displaced persons and asylum seekers with
skills which will be of benefit on return to the country
of origin.

2.
As a component of an integrated project facilitating
voluntary repatriation, and in particular one covering one
the
or more of
following may also be eligible for financing:

the areas mentioned in paragraph 1,

(a) the range of varying situations and needs in the

Member States;

(b) cost-effectiveness and value for money, taking account
of the number of persons targeted by the project or
measure;

(c) the innovative nature of projects or measures and the
potential for making use of the results to reinforce
for other
cooperation between Member States or
Member States to apply the lessons learned;

(d) experience, expertise and reliability of the applicant

organisation and any partner organisations;

(e) complementarity of

the projects or measures with
other projects or measures funded under the budget of
the European Communities
from national
programmes.

or

(a) transport costs associated with repatriation;

CHAPTER II

(b) measures to support the reintegration in their country
of origin of persons returning from the Member
States, including post-repatriation monitoring.

Article 6

Emergency

assistance

to

persons

displaced

following recent events in Kosovo

Emergency assistance in Member States which receive, in
particular following an initiative of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees, a significant number of
refugees, displaced persons and asylum seekers who have
fled from Kosovo and from neighbouring regions as a
result of recent events there shall consist of financial
assistance contributing for a duration of six months to:

(a) accommodation needs;

(b) means of subsistence, including food and clothing;

(c) medical, psychological or other personal assistance;

(d) the costs of personnel administering and imple-

menting the assistance.

Such measures may integrate actions to facilitate the
voluntary return of displaced persons when conditions
permit.

FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

Article 8

Financial control

Financing decisions and the contracts derived therefrom
in conformity with the financial regulations applicable to
the budget of the European Communities shall provide in
particular for monitoring and financial control by the
Commission and audits by the Court of Auditors.

Article 9

Level of Community finance

1.
Financial support from the budget of the European
Communities shall not exceed 80 % of the total cost of
the project or measure.

2.
All types of expenditure which are directly attribut-
able to the implementation of a project or measure and
incurred during a specific, contractually defined period
shall be eligible, subject to conditions to be specified in
guidelines which shall be established by the Commission,
up to the ceiling of appropriations authorised under the
annual budgetary procedure.

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In relation to projects or measures falling under
3.
Article 6, any expenditure incurred after the adoption of
this Joint Action will be taken into consideration.

one representative from each Member State and chaired
by the Commission.

Article 10

Financial management

The procedure to be followed for the selection of
2.
projects or measures falling under Articles 4 and 5 shall
be the following.

Projects or measures adopted under

this Joint
1.
Action and financed by the budget of
the European
Communities shall be managed by the Commission in
conformity with the Financial Regulation of
21
December 1977 applicable to the general budget of the
European Communities (1).

2. When presenting the financing proposals,
the
Commission shall take account of the principles of sound
financial management and in particular of economy and
cost-effectiveness as required by Article 2 of the Financial
Regulation referred to in paragraph 1.

CHAPTER III

MANAGEMENT PROVISIONS

Article 11

General management provisions

The Commission shall be responsible for managing
projects and measures under this Joint Action and shall
take such steps as are necessary to that end.

In particular, in order to ensure that this Joint Action is
implemented efficiently and effectively, the Commission
may have recourse to technical assistance which may be
financed from the appropriations available for projects
and measures under this Joint Action and authorised to
that end by the budget authority. The Commission shall
regularly inform the Committee referred to in Article 13,
as well as the European Parliament and the Council, of
the measures taken to that end.

Article 12

Submission of projects and measures

Projects and measures for which financing is requested
shall be submitted to the Commission for scrutiny within
a time limit to be determined by the Commission.

Article 13

Procedure

1.
For the implementation of this Joint Action, the
Commission shall be assisted, according to the provisions
set out in this Joint Action, by a Committee consisting of

(1) OJ L 356, 31.12.1977, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by
Regulation (EC) No 2548/98 (OJ L 320, 28.11.1998, p. 1).

to

referred

(a) Where the financing requested is less than EUR
50 000, the Commission shall submit a draft to the
Committee
in paragraph 1. The
Committee, acting by the majority provided for in the
second subparagraph of Article K.4(3) of the Treaty,
shall deliver its opinion on this draft within a time
limit which the Chairman may lay down according to
the urgency of the matter. The Chairman shall not
vote. The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes;
furthermore, each Member State shall have the right
to ask that its position be recorded in the minutes.
The Commission shall
the
opinion delivered by the Committee. It shall inform
the Committee of how it has done so.

take full account of

submit

(b) Where the financing requested exceeds EUR 50 000,
the Commission shall
to the Committee
referred to in paragraph 1 a list of the projects and
measures submitted to it. The Commission shall indi-
cate the projects and measures it selects and shall give
reasons for its selection. The Committee, acting by the
majority provided for in the second subparagraph of
Article K.4(3) of the Treaty, shall deliver its opinion
on the various projects and measures within a period
of two months. The Chairman shall not vote. If a
favourable opinion is not delivered within the time
limit,
the Commission shall either withdraw the
project and the measure concerned or submit it, with
any opinion from the Committee,
to the Council
which, acting by the majority provided for in the
second subparagraph of Article K.4(3) of the Treaty,
shall take a decision within two months.

3.
The procedure to be followed for the selection of
projects or measures falling under Article 6 shall be the
following.

(a) Where the financing is less than EUR 200 000, the
Commission shall keep the Council informed of the
number of requests received for the financing of
specific projects and measures, the principles applied
in granting support thereto and the results of such
projects and measures.

(b) Where the financing is EUR 200 000 or more and is
less than EUR 1 million,
the Commission shall
submit to the Committee referred to in paragraph 1 a
list of the projects and measures which have been
submitted to it. It shall
indicate the projects and
measures it selects and shall give reasons for its selec-
tion. The Committee, acting by the majority provided

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for in the second subparagraph of Article K.4(3) of the
Treaty, shall deliver its opinion on the various projects
and measures within a period of
two weeks. The
Chairman shall not vote.

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 14

Monitoring and evaluation

The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes; more-
over, each Member State shall have the right to ask
that its position be recorded in the minutes. The
Commission shall take full account of the opinion
delivered by the Committee. It shall
inform the
Committee of how it has done so.

its

(c) Where the financing is EUR 1 million or more, the
Commission shall submit to the Committee referred
to in paragraph 1 a list of the projects and measures
which have been submitted to it. It shall indicate the
projects and measures it selects and shall give reasons
for
selection. The Committee, acting by the
majority provided for in the second subparagraph of
Article K.4(3) of the Treaty, shall deliver its opinion
on the various projects and measures within a period
two weeks. The Chairman shall not vote. If a
of
favourable opinion is not delivered within the time
limit,
the Commission shall either withdraw the
project and the measure concerned or submit it, with
any opinion from the Committee, to the Council,
which, acting by the majority provided for in the
second subparagraph of Article K.4(3) of the Treaty,
shall take a decision within one month.

1.
the
The Commission shall be responsible for
monitoring and evaluation of projects and measures
financed under this Joint Action. Monitoring and evalu-
ation may be financed from the appropriations available
for measures under this Joint Action.

2.
The Commission shall prepare a summary report of
the measures undertaken and the evaluation carried out,
to be sent to the European Parliament and the Council.

Article 15

Entry into force

This Joint Action shall enter into force on the day of its
adoption.

It shall apply until 31 December 1999.

Article 16

Publication

This Joint Action shall be published in the Official
Journal.

Done at Luxembourg, 26 April 1999.

For the Council

The President

J. FISCHER