1. This Regulation addresses exceptional situations of crisis, including instrumentalisation, and force majeure, in the field of migration and asylum within the Union by means of temporary measures. It provides for enhanced solidarity and support measures that build upon while ensuring the fair sharing of responsibility, and for temporary specific rules derogating from those set out in Regulations and .
2. Temporary measures adopted pursuant to this Regulation shall meet the requirements of necessity and proportionality, be appropriate to achieving their stated objectives and ensuring the protection of the rights of applicants and beneficiaries of international protection, and be consistent with the obligations of the Member States under , international law and the Union asylum acquis. This Regulation shall not affect the fundamental principles and guarantees, established by the legislative acts from which derogations are allowed pursuant to this Regulation.
3. The measures adopted pursuant to this Regulation shall be applied only to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, in a temporary and limited manner and only in exceptional circumstances. Member States may apply the measures provided for in Chapter IV and benefit from the measures provided for in Chapter III only upon request and to the extent provided for in the Council implementing decision referred to in Article 4(3) without prejudice to Article 10(5).
4. For the purposes of this Regulation, a situation of crisis means:
(a) an exceptional situation of mass arrivals of third-country nationals or stateless persons in a Member State by land, air or sea, including of persons that have been disembarked following search and rescue operations, of such a scale and nature, taking into account, inter alia, the population, GDP and geographical specificities of the Member State, including the size of the territory, that it renders the Member State’s well-prepared asylum, reception, including child protection services, or return system non-functional, including as a result of a situation at local or regional level, such that there could be serious consequences for the functioning of the Common European Asylum System; or
(b) a situation of instrumentalisation where a third country or a hostile non-state actor encourages or facilitates the movement of third-country nationals or stateless persons to the external borders or to a Member State, with the aim of destabilising the Union or a Member State, and where such actions are liable to put at risk essential functions of a Member State, including the maintenance of law and order or the safeguard of its national security.
Member States may request the authorisation to apply measures listed in Chapter III and IV in particular where there is an unexpected significant increase in the caseload of applications for international protection at the external borders. Member States may apply the derogations provided for in the Council implementing decision referred to in Article 4(3) in the situation of instrumentalisation only in respect of third-country nationals or stateless persons who are subject to instrumentalisation and who are either apprehended or found in the proximity of the external border, meaning the Member State’s land borders, including river and lake borders, sea borders and its airports, river ports, sea ports and lake ports, provided that they are not internal borders, in connection with an unauthorised crossing by land, sea or air, or who are disembarked following search and rescue operations or who have presented themselves at border crossing points.
5. For the purposes of this Regulation, force majeure refers to abnormal and unforeseeable circumstances outside a Member State’s control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided notwithstanding the exercise of all due care, which prevent that Member State from complying with obligations under Regulations and .