❖ A report has been submitted asking for the intervention of the Greek Ombudsperson regarding a case pending at second instance. 578 ❖ No cases of the above-described malpractice were observed in the mainland. 579 In accordance with Article 92(5) Asylum Code, applications of asylum applicants nationals of countries listed as ‘safe countries of origin’ in the national list have been examined on the merits only to the extent of their claims against the application of the safe country of origin assumption. 580 It has been highlighted that “the practice of applying different asylum procedures according to the nationalities of the applicants is arbitrary, as it is neither provided by EU nor by domestic law. In addition, it violates the principle of non-discrimination as set out in Article 3 of the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951 relating to the status of refugees (Geneva Convention). Instead, it is explicitly based on EUAA’s undisclosed internal guidelines, which frame the hotspot asylum procedures in order to implement the EU-Türkiye statement.”581 Exempted categories from the fast-track border procedure under the Asylum Code As opposed to previous legislation, the Asylum Code repealed the exception of persons belonging to vulnerable groups and applicants falling under the Dublin Regulation from the fast-track border procedure (see Identification and Special procedural guarantees). Data for the number of cases exempted from the border procedure on grounds of vulnerability and need for special procedurals guaranteed under the Asylum Code in 2025 is not available. In 2024, Lesvos RAO automatically applied non-border procedures for applicants to whom first instance decisions had not been notified within 28 days from registration, without however first issuing any decision for a referral to the regular procedure as, according to the RAO, this is not foreseen in the law.582 In these cases, the deadline for the appeal is automatically extended as follows: for admissibility, the 10 days are automatically extended to 20 days, for eligibility, to 30 days, and for eligibility for cases falling under the safe country of origin concept to 20 days. This practice is based on Article 95 (2) Asylum Code.583 The same practice has been observed by legal aid actors in Kos RAO;584 the practice was first noticed at the beginning of 2023 and continued throughout 2024. Furthermore, the total number of unaccompanied minors examined under border procedures in 2025 is not available. In particular, as far as unaccompanied minors are concerned, Article 80 (7) Asylum Code provides that applications filed by minors under the age of 15, as well as minors who are victims of human trafficking, torture, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence are to be examined under the regular procedure. However, Article 95(4) Asylum Code provides that unaccompanied minors are examined under the fast-track border procedure if: ❖ the minor comes for a country designated as a safe country of origin in accordance with the national list (according to Article 92 (5) Asylum Code); ❖ they submit a subsequent application; ❖ they are considered a threat to the public order/national security; 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 Information acquired during Lesvos LAsWG meeting, 28 November 2023. Information acquired during Athens LAsWG meetings, 2023. See for example Decision 18695/2023 issued by 21 st Appeals Committee concerning the case of an asylum applicant from Ghana; a summary of the decision is available in Greek in GCR, HIAS, RSA et al, Issue 2/2023 of the Greek Asylum Case Law Report, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yn6yb77u. Greens/EFA, The EU-Türkiye Statement and the Greek Hotspots: A failed European Pilot Project in Refugee Policy, June 2018, available at: https://bit.ly/2sJM2H4, p. 17. Information provided by Lesvos RAO, January 2025. According to Article 95 paragraph 2 of Asylum Code: “If no decision is taken within twenty-eight (28) days from the date of filing the application, the applicant shall be allowed to enter and remain within the country in order to have his/her application examined, in accordance with the other provisions of this Code.” Information provided by the LWG of Kos throughout the year 2024. 127