Press Release: Asylum procedures: European Commission identifies shortcomings in existing common standards

The European Commission report on the application of the Directive on minimum standards on procedures for granting and withdrawing refugee status shows that procedural guarantees still vary considerably across the EU. Moreover, the vagueness of the standards set by the Directive and flaws in the implementation at national level may lead to administrative errors. The Commission on 21 October 2009 adopted a proposal to recast the Directive in order to remedy to these deficiencies.