This Regulation lays down standards for:
the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection;
a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection;
the content of the international protection granted.
This Regulation applies to the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection and to the content of the international protection granted.
This Regulation does not apply to national humanitarian statuses granted by Member States to third country nationals and stateless persons who do not fall under the scope of this Regulation. National humanitarian statuses, where granted, shall not entail a risk of confusion with international protection.
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:
‘refugee status’ means the recognition by a Member State of a third-country national or a stateless person as a refugee;
‘subsidiary protection status’ means the recognition by a Member State of a third-country national or a stateless person as a person eligible for subsidiary protection;
‘international protection’ means refugee status or subsidiary protection status;
‘beneficiary of international protection’ means a person who has been granted refugee status or subsidiary protection status;
‘refugee’ means a third-country national who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group, is outside the country of nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country, or a stateless person, who, being outside of the country of former habitual residence for the same reasons as mentioned, is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to return to it, and to whom Article 12 does not apply;
‘person eligible for subsidiary protection’ means a third-country national or a stateless person who does not qualify as a refugee but in respect of whom substantial grounds have been shown for believing that that person, if returned to his or her country of origin or, in the case of a stateless person, to his or her country of former habitual residence, would face a real risk of suffering serious harm as defined in Article 15, and to whom Article 17(1) and (2) does not apply, and is unable or, owing to such risk, unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country;
‘application for international protection’ means a request made by a third-country national or a stateless person for protection from a Member State, who can be understood to seek refugee status or subsidiary protection status;
‘applicant’ means a third-country national or a stateless person who has made an application for international protection in respect of which a final decision has not yet been taken;
‘family members’ means, in so far as the family already existed before the applicant arrived on the territory of the Member States, the following members of the family of the beneficiary of international protection who are present on the territory of the same Member State in relation to the application for international protection:
the spouse of the beneficiary of international protection or his or her unmarried partner in a stable relationship, where the law or practice of the Member State concerned treats unmarried couples as equivalent to married couples;
the minor or adult dependent children of the couples referred to in point (a) or of the beneficiary of international protection, provided that they are unmarried and regardless of whether they were born in or out of wedlock or adopted as provided for under national law; a minor is considered unmarried provided that, on the basis of an individual assessment, the minor’s marriage would not be in accordance with the relevant national law had it been contracted in the Member State concerned, having regard, in particular, to the legal age of marriage;
where the beneficiary of international protection is a minor and unmarried, the father, mother or another adult responsible for that beneficiary, including an adult sibling, whether by the law or practice of the Member State concerned; a minor is considered unmarried provided that, on the basis of an individual assessment, the minor’s marriage would not be in accordance with the relevant national law had it been contracted in the Member State concerned, having regard, in particular, to the legal age of marriage;
‘minor’ means a third-country national or stateless person below the age of 18 years;
‘unaccompanied minor’ means a minor who arrives on the territory of the Member States unaccompanied by an adult responsible for him or her whether by the law or practice of the Member State concerned, and for as long as that minor is not effectively taken into the care of such an adult, including a minor who is left unaccompanied after he or she has entered the territory of the Member States;
‘residence permit’ means an authorisation issued by the authorities of a Member State, in a uniform format as laid down by Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002, which allows a third-country national or stateless person to reside legally on its territory;
‘country of origin’ means the country or countries of nationality or, for stateless persons, of former habitual residence;
‘withdrawal of international protection’ means a decision by a determining authority or a competent court or tribunal to revoke or end, including by refusing to renew, international protection;
‘determining authority’ means a quasi-judicial or administrative body in a Member State which is responsible for examining applications for international protection and is competent to take decisions at the administrative stage of the procedure;
‘social security’ means the branches of social security set out in Article 3(1) and (2) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council(1);
‘social assistance’ means benefits granted with the objective of ensuring that the basic needs of those who lack sufficient resources are met;
‘guardian’ means a natural person or an organisation, including a public body, designated by the competent authorities to assist, represent and act on behalf of an unaccompanied minor, as applicable, in order to ensure that the unaccompanied minor can benefit from the rights and comply with the obligations under this Regulation, while safeguarding his or her best interests and general well-being.