EMN research into how EU Member States and EMN Observer Countries determine whether a country can be designated as safe.
EMN inform | International protection
EMN inform: ‘Safe countries of origin and safe third countries: criteria for identifying and examining applications for asylum in the light of the new Procedural Regulation (EU/2024/38)’
20 April 2026
Study period – Up to and including September 2025
Participating countries – Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Cyprus (CY), Czechia (CZ), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Spain (ES), Finland (FI), France (FR), Greece (EL), Croatia (HR), Hungary (HU), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Latvia (LV), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Sweden (SE), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK); Serbia (RS)
Background and scope
- Under European rules, EU Member States must take into account, when examining an application for international protection, whether applicants originate from a 'safe country of origin' (SCO).
- Member States are also required to assess whether a designated third country treats persons seeking international protection (asylum) in accordance with international standards and law, and can therefore be designated as a 'safe third country' (STC).
- Until the new Asylum Procedures Regulation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum enters into force on 12 June 2026, the definitions of these concepts are governed by Articles 36 to 38 and Annex I of the recast Asylum Procedures Directive (Directive 2013/32/EU).
- The study maps the national policies on safe countries as applied in EU Member States and EMN observer countries up to and including September 2025*.
EMN publications
- EMN inform, 'Safe countries of origin and safe third countries: criteria for identifying and examining applications for asylum in the light of the new Procedural Regulation (EU/2024/38)', 16 April 2026
EMN Netherlands publications
- News item, 'From the EU Asylum and Migration Pact onwards, a European list of safe countries will apply, with EU Member States determining whether a country is safe accordingly', 20 April 2026
*On Tuesday 10 February 2026, after the reference period of this study, the European Parliament adopted an EU list of safe countries of origin. This list will apply in all EU Member States from the entry into force of the Pact on Migration and Asylum on 12 June 2026.
