Background:

Under the EU's Asylum Procedures Regulation (APR), one of the instruments of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, applicants for international protection have the right to free legal counselling during the administrative stage of their procedure. This includes help with lodging the application, information on rights and obligations, and guidance on procedures, while free legal assistance and representation are provided during appeals. As EU Member States are preparing the implementation of this regulation, the Finnish National Contact Point (NCP) to the EMN launched this ad hoc query focusing on practical issues regarding the provision of free legal counselling. 

Respondents:

22 EMN Member and Observer Countries (including BE) provided a public answer to this ad hoc query.

Findings:

 A preliminary analysis of the results of the ad hoc query shows that:

• Responding countries provided information on which organisation will be responsible for providing free legal counselling. The nature of this organisation varies between countries: government institution (e.g. BE, DE), independent body (e.g. BG), civil society organisation (e.g. HR, HU, SK), law firm (e.g. CZ, EL, SE). In BE, the Immigration Office will be responsible for providing counselling. Only employees who are not involved in case processing would be eligible to provide legal counselling, after following an internal training.
   

• All countries report that free legal counselling will be provided individually, and most also foresee group sessions. When counselling is provided to groups, safeguards exist to guarantee the quality of the counselling, such as limiting the size and nationalities of the group, keeping group information general, or offering interpretation in the most common languages of applicants.
   

• The EUAA Practical Guide on Free Legal Counselling clarifies that legal counselling goes beyond providing general information, and should include individual aspects that are connected to the applicant's profile, focusing on questions that are of direct concern to them. Responding countries report that this tailored counselling will be guaranteed through access to a lawyer or individual meetings. 
   

• Only 3 countries plan to use videos to support legal counselling, either to conduct sessions remotely or as visual support tools during in-person sessions.
   

• Only 4 countries report plans to impose monetary or time limits to how much legal counselling a single applicant can benefit from, in line with APR Article 19(4). In BE, pro bono lawyers receive a fixed fee for each action they take but there are no financial or time limits for the applicants.
   

• Almost all countries, including BE, report that free legal aid (i.e. assistance and representation in proceedings) will also be made available to applicants during the administrative procedure.

For further details, please read the compilation of answers attached above.