To ensure that unaccompanied minors have effective access to the procedure and are able to benefit from the rights and comply with the obligations under this Regulation, (9), and (10) of the European Parliament and of the Council, they should be appointed a representative, including where the applicant is found to be an unaccompanied minor at any moment during the asylum procedure. The representative should assist and guide the minor through the procedure with a view to safeguarding the best interests of the child and should, in particular, assist with the lodging of the application and the personal interview. Where necessary, the representative should lodge the application on behalf of the minor. A person should be designated to assist unaccompanied minors until a representative is appointed, including, where applicable, in relation to the age-assessment procedure and the procedures provided for under and . In order to provide effective support to the unaccompanied minors, representatives or a person suitable to provisionally act as a representative should be placed in charge of a proportionate and limited number of unaccompanied minors, and under normal circumstances of no more than 30 unaccompanied minors, at the same time. Member States should appoint administrative or judicial authorities or other entities responsible for the supervision on a regular basis of such representatives in the performance of their tasks. An unaccompanied minor should have the right to lodge an application in his or her own name if he or she has legal capacity in accordance with national law. In order to safeguard the rights and procedural guarantees of an unaccompanied minor who does not have legal capacity in accordance with national law, the application should be lodged by the representative as soon as possible taking into account the best interests of the child. The fact that an unaccompanied minor lodges an application in his or her own name should not preclude him or her from being assigned a representative.
9. Regulation (EU) 2024/1351 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 on asylum and migration management, amending Regulations (EU) 2021/1147 and (EU) 2021/1060 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 (OJ L, 2024/1351, 22.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1351/oj). ↩︎
10. Regulation (EU) 2024/1358 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 on the establishment of ‘Eurodac’ for the comparison of biometric data in order to effectively apply Regulations (EU) 2024/1351 and (EU) 2024/1350 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Directive 2001/55/EC and to identify illegally staying third-country nationals and stateless persons and on requests for the comparison with Eurodac data by Member States’ law enforcement authorities and Europol for law enforcement purposes, amending Regulations (EU) 2018/1240 and (EU) 2019/818 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Regulation (EU) No 603/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L, 2024/1358, 22.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1358/oj). ↩︎