Lodging of first asylum applications in Attica by location 529 436 401 380 409 330 Oct 2022 Nov 2022 Dec 2022 RIC Malakasa RAO Attica RAO Piraeus RAO Alimos AAU Amygdaleza AAU Criminal Detainees Source: Ministry of Migration and Asylum, Monthly Reports. Legal status and procedures in mainland RIC De facto detention regime Greek law does not apply a “fiction of non-entry” into the national territory to persons undergoing reception and identification procedures, contrary to the Screening Regulation proposal under negotiation. However, as has been consistently highlighted, the Asylum Code imposes a “restriction on liberty” to persons subject to reception and identification procedures which amounts to de facto detention. It entails a prohibition on exit from the RIC facilities for a maximum of 25 days under a Decision of the Director of the RIC, to be issued within five days from entry into the facility.29 The measure entails substantial interference with the personal liberty of newly arrived persons, since they are required to remain within the RIC and cannot receive visitors outside the facility, while their movements are restricted and monitored by the authorities.30 It also amounts to arbitrary detention insofar as it is automatically imposed without following legislative safeguards on deprivation of liberty of asylum seekers. Such a reading is supported by Letter of Formal Notice INFR(2022)2156 sent by the European Commission to the Greek government in late January 2023, under an infringement procedure for incorrect transposition of Articles 8, 9 and 11 of the Reception Conditions Directive. 31 In practice, reception and identification procedures may take up to 25 days, since the scheduled date for arrival in mainland RIC does not mean that the uniform registration 29 30 31 Article 40(a) Asylum Code. See in particular RSA et al., The Workings of the Screening Regulation, January 2021, 8-9, available at: https://bit.ly/3WIppP8; RSA et al., Deportations and Returns Bill – Comments from legal organisations, June 2021, 11, available at: https://bit.ly/3xealyn; RSA & HIAS, The role of the European Commission in the implementation of the EU asylum acquis on the Greek islands, January 2023, 16, available at: https://bit.ly/3Ih1137. European Commission, ‘January Infringements package: key decisions’, INF/23/142, 26 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3RdzL8n. 9 RSA REPORT │ 2023