The quality of interviews in the asylum procedures in Greece have been repeatedly criticised by NGOs, 29 as well as by UNHCR, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Even though UNHCR recognised some progress in 2012 in the quality of the interviews, it also highlights that “the asylum procedure was, for many years, characterized by a lack of essential procedural guarantees, including a 30 lack of qualified interpretation during interviews, poor quality of interviews and interview records”. Legal assistance Indicators: - - - Do asylum seekers have access to free legal assistance at first instance in the regular procedure in practice? Yes not always/with difficulty No Do asylum seekers have access to free legal assistance in the appeal procedure against a negative decision? Yes not always/with difficulty No In the first instance procedure, does free legal assistance cover: representation during the personal interview legal advice both Not applicable In the appeal against a negative decision, does free legal assistance cover representation in courts legal advice both Not applicable According to the law, asylum seekers have the right to consult, at their own cost, a lawyer or other legal advisor on matters relating to their asylum application. In the case of an appeal before the Court, the applicant shall be provided with free legal assistance according to the procedure laid down in law 3226/2004 (O. G. A 24). Lawyers who represent asylum seekers shall have access to the information in the applicant’s file, except in some circumstances related to national security, if this information is relevant to the examination of the asylum application. Other advisors, mainly NGOs who assist the applicant shall have access to the applicant’s file, if this information is relevant to the assistance provided. Given the fact that legal counsellors from NGOs in practice provide legal assistance to the applicants there was no opportunity to see the difference 31 between the two above-mentioned provisions of the law. Lawyers who represent asylum seekers and other counsellors who assist them shall have access to closed areas, such as detention facilities and transit zones, for the purpose of consulting with the asylum seekers in specially arranged premises within such closed areas. The authorities competent to receive or examine an asylum application may only limit the possibility of these persons' access to closed areas where such limitation is deemed objectively necessary for the security, public order or administrative management of the area, or in order to ensure an efficient examination of the asylum application, provided that access by the lawyer or legal counsellor is not thereby severely limited or rendered impossible. 29 30 31 See Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Migration and asylum: mounting tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, Report, Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, 23 January 2013, para. 36.; UNHCR Greece, Contribution to the dialogue on migration and asylum, May 2012 ; Greek Ombudsman, Findings after the 16.11.2010 visit in situ of the Ombudsman to the Attica Aliens Police Directorate in PetrouRalli, Athens, 25 January 2011,( in Greek). UNHCR Greece, Contribution to the dialogue on migration and asylum, May 2012. It should be noted that the law provides that the Determining Authority may, in a reasoned decision, forbid the disclosure of the source of the information if it considers that such disclosure of sources may jeopardise national security, the international relations of Greece, the security or the necessary secrecy in the actions of the organisations or person(s) providing the information. The access to this confidential information or sources is, in any case, possible to the Administrative Court of Appeal, the court competent to examine a request for the annulment of a decision by the Determining Authority provided in Article 29 (P.D 114/10). 22