protection have access to legal advice at all stages of the process, from the moment of filing their application until a final determination is made’.418 Legal assistance at second instance Free legal assistance shall be provided to applicants in appeal procedures before the Appeals Authority under the terms and conditions set in the Ministerial Decision 788502/2023.419 According to the Ministerial Decision 494476/2023, the legal assistance scheme in appeal procedures will be integrated into the program AMIF (Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund) 2021-2027420. The first Ministerial Decision concerning free legal aid to applicants was issued in September 2016.421 However, the State-funded legal aid scheme on the basis of a list managed by the Asylum Service started operating, for the first time, on 21 September 2017. According to Joint Ministerial Decision 788502/2023 regulating the State-funded legal aid scheme, asylum seekers are entitled to legal aid as long as they are not represented by another lawyer. The application for legal aid must be filed before the submission of the appeal422. The decision also explicitly provides for the possibility of legal assistance through videoconferencing in every Regional Asylum Office.423 The fixed fee of the Registry’s lawyers is €90 for the drafting and submission of the appeal and of the suspension application if required, €20 for the conclusion of the meeting with the appellant and €50 for the memorandum, regardless of whether the appeal was filed by the applicant within the deadline provided in the law or not. The fees are covered by the State.424 In practice requests for legal aid at second instance are mainly submitted through the electronic platform of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum,425 notably because, as described above, first instance decisions may be notified to the applicants with a registered letter or other ways of notification and applicants’ access to RAOs/AAU is not unrestricted but a prior appointment is usually required, depending on the competent RAO/AAU. This may pose additional obstacles to applicants who are unfamiliar with the use of electronic applications or who do not have access to the required equipment/internet. In 2023, during which COVID-19 related restrictions were lifted, applicants continued to be advised to apply online for free legal aid. However, it has been noticed in certain RAOs/AAU that in case of the decision’s notification in person to the applicant by the Asylum Service, the applicants are asked whether they would like to file a request for free legal aid in person on the same day and time. As previously mentioned, a total of 10,973 appeals were lodged against Asylum Service decisions in 2023, the majority of which (28.1%) were filed by appellants from Pakistan, followed by those from Egypt (8.6%), Afghanistan (7.2%), Bangladesh (6.2%) and Albania (6.1%).426 Data on the number of applicants that were granted free legal assistance at second instance through the Registry of Lawyers of the GAS is not available nor, as has been the case with other information requested by GCR as part of this report, has it been provided following GCR’s relevant request for information, to which the MoMA replied by 87eferring GCR to the Ministry’s website “and in particular at the link https://migration.gov.gr/statistika/ [where] the monthly newsletters are published, alongside relevant annexes, which include summary and detailed statistical data on the work of the First Reception Service, 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Addendum: Mission to Greece, A/HRC/45/16/Add.1, 29 July 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3dL8I0U, para. 85. Ministerial Decision 788502/2023, Gov. Gazette 42/B/11.01.2023. MD 3449/2021 was repealed by MD 788502/2023 according to Article 6(2) of MD 788502/2023, MD 3686/2020 was repealed by MD 3449/2021 according to Article 6 of MD 3449/2021, MD 12205/2016 was repealed by MD 3686/2020 according to Article 6(2) MD 3686/2020 Ministerial Decision 494476/2023, Gov. Gazette 6393/B/07.11.2023. Ministerial Decision 12205/2016, Gov. Gazette 2864/B/9-9-2016. Gov. Gazette 42/B/11.01.2023 Article 1(7) MD 788502/2023. Article 3 MD 788502/2023. MoMA, Asylum Services, available at: https://bit.ly/3BPGrCV. MoMA, Statistics, Consolidated Reports - Overview: December 2023 - International Protection | Appendix A, available at: https://tinyurl.com/wn2kukaa, table 10b. 87