Legal Overview

Abstract

Common rules on most aspects of the asylum process are in force in the European Union (EU), building on the international refugee protection regime. This so-called EU asylum acquis has resulted in a “Common European Asylum System (CEAS)”. The CEAS consists of rules to determine which Member State is responsible for determining an asylum claim; to define asylum seekers’ entitlements and obligations as regards their reception in Member States; to regulate the asylum procedure itself; and to determine who qualifies for international protection. The primary purpose of this chapter is to offer insight into the functioning of the CEAS (including asylum determination), with a view to creating a legal background and framework for the ethnographic chapters that follow.