EXTERNAL MONITORING OF RETURN OPERATIONS OF THIRD COUNTRY NATIONALS based on Article 2 of the Directive, upon which nevertheless the basic guarantees of the fundamental rights still apply. The basic observation by the Ombudsman, obtained from the 26 readmissions in which he was involved, is that the problems that he had emphasized in his previous annual report19 continue to be relevant, and specifically: ⇢ The lack of timely information to the citizens of Syria or other third party countries of the fact that they are to be included in an operation of readmission to Turkey. ⇢ The lack of individualised assessment for the necessity or non-restraining with handcuffs. Without replacing the Greek Police in its operational judgement, the Ombudsman persists upon proportionality and the re-examination of the means of restraint during the operation of removal. ⇢ The oversight of supply of a certificate of medical examination for the ability to travel (“fit to travel”). ⇢ The lack of completeness of the service file, which accompanies the detainees, according to the police division responsible, as regards the procedure and outcome of a possible petition for international protection (rejection in the second degree, notification etc) and the linked problem of the lack of interconnectivity of the data of the catalogue for readmission with the decisions of asylum. Nevertheless, the good co-operation of the police authorities with the Independent Authority brought some gradual improvements to the procedure, such as the inclusion of a health card for the immigrants held for readmission from the Moria detention centre, the emphasis upon the need for completeness of the file of those being transported from other police divisions towards Lesvos and so forth. Also, regarding a key question about the legal guarantees in the procedure of readmission, the Police Headquarters agreed with the Ombudsman’s view that when an application for a temporary judicial order and an injunction order is notified to the Police together with an application for judicial review against the rejection of a demand for asylum in the second degree, the readmission will not actually be carried out, so that the pending judgement by a judge for temporary protection should not be pre-emptied. And this commitment was upheld without exception during 2017. 19 Page 139 21