Providing good quality information and legal support on the procedure to be followed to determine the Member State responsible as well as the rights and obligations of the applicants in that procedure is in the interests of both Member States and applicants. To increase the effectiveness of the procedure for determining the Member State responsible and ensure correct application of the responsibility criteria as set out in this Regulation, legal counselling should be introduced as an integral part of the system for determining the Member State responsible. For that purpose, legal counselling should be made available for the applicants, upon their request, to provide guidance and assistance on the application of the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible.