1. Third countries may be designated as safe countries of origin at Union level in accordance with the conditions laid down in Article 61 and this Article.
1a. The third countries listed in Annex II to this Regulation are designated as safe countries of origin at Union level.
1b. A third country that has been granted the status of candidate State for accession to the Union is also designated as a safe country of origin at Union level, except where one or more of the following circumstances apply:
(a) there is a serious threat to a civilian’s life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict in that third country;
(b) restrictive measures within the meaning of Title IV of Part Five of the TFEU have been adopted in view of that third country’s actions affecting fundamental rights and freedoms that are relevant for the criteria of designation of a third country as a safe country of origin as set out in Article 61 of this Regulation;
(c) the proportion of decisions by the determining authority granting international protection to the applicants from that third country – either its nationals or former habitual residents in case of stateless persons – is higher than 20 % of the total number of decisions for that third country issued by the determining authority according to the latest available yearly Union-wide average Eurostat data.
Where any of the circumstances referred to in the first subparagraph, points (a) to (c), apply, or cease to apply, the Commission shall immediately inform the Member States, the European Parliament and the Council thereof. In the case of point (a) of this paragraph, the Commission shall obtain the prior approval of the Council before informing the Member States and the European Parliament.
2. The Commission shall review the situation in third countries that are designated as safe countries of origin, with the assistance of the Asylum Agency and on the basis of the other sources of information referred to in Article 61(3).
3. The Asylum Agency shall, at the request of the Commission, provide it with information and analysis on specific third countries which could be considered for designation as safe countries of origin at Union level. The Commission shall promptly consider any request from a Member State to assess whether a third country could be designated as safe country of origin at Union level.
4. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 74 concerning the suspension, in whole or in part, of the designation of a third country as a safe country of origin at Union level, subject to the conditions as set out in Article 63.
Correlation table
| Directive 2013/32/EU | This Regulation |
| — | Article 62 |