The European Commission has started legal action against Greece, Italy and Croatia for failing to correctly register migrants. Greece has been criticized for failure to fingerprint around 121,000 of the almost 500,000 people who arrived in the country between July 20 and November 30, 2015, according to EC estimates.

The EC is urging the three countries to correctly implement the Eurodac Regulation which provides for the effective fingerprinting of asylum seekers and transmission of data to the Eurodac central system within 72 hours. Effective implementation of the Eurodac Regulation is essential for the functioning of the Dublin system and EU relocation schemes. The European Commission sent administrative letters to Greece, Croatia and Italy in October. Two months later, concerns have not been effectively addressed. The European Commission has therefore decided on Thursday to send Letters of Formal Notice to Greece, Croatia and Italy (the first step of an infringement procedure).

In particular, the EC adopted a total of eight infringement decisions for failing to fully transpose and implement the Common European Asylum System. The decisions concern Greece, Croatia, Italy, Malta and Hungary. Thursday’s measures follow the 40 decisions launched on September 23, in addition to the 34 already pending cases, on potential or actual infringements of EU asylum legislation. The Commission will continue to pursue infringement procedures swiftly and effectively to ensure full compliance with EU legislation in this area.

Greece and Malta are also being urged to communicate the national measures taken to fully transpose the Asylum Procedures Directive, which sets out common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection, and the Reception Conditions Directive, which deals with access to reception conditions for asylum seekers while they wait for examination of their applications. Greece and Malta have not communicated the necessary transposition measures. Letters of Formal Notice were sent on September 23 to Greece, Malta and 16 other Member States concerning the Asylum Procedures Directive. Letters of Formal Notice were also sent to Greece, Malta and 17 other Member States on the same date concerning the Reception Conditions Directive. Despite these letters, Greece and Malta have not yet notified the Commission of their transposition measures. Therefore the Commission has decided today to address ‘Reasoned Opinions’ to both Member States concerning both Directives.

Next Steps

Letters of formal notice are the first formal step of an infringement procedure. After receiving a letter of formal notice, Member States have two months to reply and in cases of non-communication have to notify their national transposition measures to the Commission. In the absence of satisfactory replies or of notification of national measures, the European Commission can decide to send reasoned opinions, the second step in an infringement proceeding.

After Member States receive reasoned opinions, they have two months to respond to the Commission, notifying the measures taken to ensure full transposition or bring national legislation in line with EU law. If they fail to do so, the Commission may decide to refer the Member States to the Court of Justice of the EU. In cases where there is no communication of the national transposition measures, the Commission may propose to the Court of Justice of the EU to impose financial sanctions.