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As the EUAA marks 15 years of existence, the Agency remains committed to providing continuous support to EU policymakers, Member States and national judiciaries through its information collection activities. With nearly 4 500 references to judgments on asylum published so far, the EUAA Case Law Database helps practitioners deliver consistent outcomes, often for those citizenships or risk profiles that go beyond the headlines.

The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) is known by practitioners as a knowledge hub on international protection matters. Its reports and databases support national authorities in assessing protection needs and foster increased convergence in the outcome of asylum applications. Furthermore, case officers who analyse cases involving applicants from underrepresented countries of origin or risk profiles may contact the EUAA Case Law Database and its case law team to verify if other EU countries have dealt with similar situations.

This service was recently utilised by the Immigratie-en Naturalisatiedienst (IND) (i.e., the Dutch asylum authority) to gather case law on international protection for members of the Church of Almighty God, a religious Christian minority banned in China, which is a less represented profile of applicants in EU+ countries. The EUAA provided information on whether any countries were considered safe third countries for this profile of applicants and how judges examined relevant aspects, such as credibility and evidence submitted in the case file. This positive experience has reinforced close cooperation amongst national case officers, who now actively share landmark national jurisprudence with the EUAA.

Such regular exchanges are essential for knowledge sharing between Member States and keeping the Case Law Database updated, fostering greater convergence of asylum decisions in Europe. If you are a case officer or a judge and browsing through a database of 4 500 asylum judgments seems daunting, our case law team can be contacted for jurisprudence to help decision-making in line with relevant standards of the CJEU and ECtHR, ultimately saving you time and boosting your productivity.

The database has been expanded with a new section on asylum appeals systems in EU+ countries, listing the competent authorities for appeals and summarising the procedures to follow in each country. This will help users to quickly navigate different national contexts and readily inform their decision-making.