1. Where the State or agents of the State are not the actors of persecution or serious harm, the determining authority shall examine, as part of the assessment of the application for international protection, whether an applicant is not in need of international protection because the applicant can safely and legally travel to and gain admittance to a part of the country of origin and can reasonably be expected to settle there and whether, in that part of the country, the applicant:
(a) has no well-founded fear of being persecuted or does not face a real risk of suffering serious harm; or
(b) has access to effective and non-temporary protection against persecution or serious harm.
2. Where the State or agents of the State are the actors of persecution or serious harm, the determining authority shall presume that effective protection is not available to the applicant and no examination as referred to in paragraph 1 need be carried out.
The determining authority may only carry out an examination as referred to in paragraph 1 where it is clearly established that the risk of persecution or serious harm stems from an actor whose power is clearly limited to a specific geographical area or where the State itself only has control over certain parts of the country.
3. The determining authority shall carry out an examination as referred to in paragraph 1 once it has established that the qualification criteria set out in this Regulation would otherwise apply to an applicant. The burden of demonstrating that an internal protection alternative is available to the applicant shall fall on the determining authority. The applicant shall be entitled to present evidence and submit any element which indicates that such an alternative is not available to him or her. The determining authority shall take into account the evidence presented and elements submitted by the applicant.
4. In examining whether an applicant has a well-founded fear of being persecuted or faces a real risk of suffering serious harm, or has access to protection against persecution or serious harm in a part of the country of origin concerned in accordance with paragraph 1, the determining authority shall, at the time of taking the decision on the application for international protection, have regard to the general circumstances prevailing in that part of the country and to the personal circumstances of the applicant set out in Article 4. To that end, the determining authority shall take into account precise and up-to-date information obtained from relevant and available national, Union and international sources and, where available, the common analysis on the situation in specific countries of origin and the guidance notes referred to in Article 11 of .
5. For the purposes of paragraph 1, the determining authority shall take into account:
(a) the general circumstances prevailing in the relevant part of the country of origin, including the accessibility, effectiveness and durability of the protection referred to in Article 7;
(b) the personal circumstances of the applicant in relation to factors such as health, age, gender, including gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic origin and membership of a national minority; and
(c) whether the applicant would be able to cater for his or her own basic needs.
6. Where the applicant is an unaccompanied minor, the determining authority shall take into account the best interests of the minor and, in particular, the availability of sustainable and appropriate care and custodial arrangements.
Correlation Table
| Directive 2011/95/EU | This Regulation |
| Article 8(1) | Article 8(1) |
| — | Article 8(2) and (3) |
| Article 8(2) | Article 8(4) |
| — | Article 8(5) and (6) |