Applicants are required to immediately notify the competent authorities of any changes to their place of residence for as long as the examination of their asylum application is pending. 701 Finally, applicants have the right to lodge an appeal (προσφυγή) before the Administrative Court against decisions that restrict their freedom of movement.702 However, as explained below, the remedy regulated by this provision is not available in practice. The geographical restriction on the Eastern Aegean islands In practice, the imposition of a restriction on freedom of movement is particularly applied to persons subject to the EU-Türkiye statement and the Fast-Track Border Procedure, whose movement is systematically restricted to the island where they have arrived, under a “geographical restriction”. As mentioned in Reception and Identification Procedure, the geographical restriction on the given island is imposed both by the Police Authorities and the Asylum Service. Imposition of the “geographical restriction” by the Police: Following an initial “Deportation decision based on the readmission procedure” issued for every newly arrived person upon arrival, a “postponement of deportation” decision is issued by the Police, 703 by which the person in question is ordered not to leave the island and to reside in the respective RIC ‘until the issuance of a second instance negative decision on the asylum application’. The automatic issuance of a deportation decision upon arrival against every newly arrived person on the Greek islands is highly problematic, given that the majority of newly arrived persons have already expressed their intention to seek asylum upon arrival, thus prior to the issuance of a deportation decision.704 Moreover, the decision of the Police which imposes the geographical restriction on the island is imposed indiscriminately, without any prior individual assessment or proportionality test. It is also imposed indefinitely, with no maximum time limit provided by law and with no effective remedy in place.705 Imposition of the “geographical restriction” by the Asylum Service: The imposition of the geographical restriction on the islands in the context of the asylum procedure was initially based on a June 2017 Decision of the Director of the Asylum Service. 706 This decision was annulled by the Council of State on 17 April 2018, following an action brought by GCR. The Council of State ruled that the imposition of a limitation on the right of free movement on the basis of a regulatory (κανονιστική) decision is not as such contrary to the Greek Constitution or to any other provision with overriding legislative power. However, it is necessary that the legal grounds, for which this measure was imposed, can be deduced from the preparatory work for the issuance of this administrative Decision, as otherwise, it cannot be ascertained whether this measure was indeed necessary. That said the Council of State annulled the Decision as the legal grounds, which permitted the imposition of the restriction, could not be deduced neither from the text of said Decision nor from the elements included in the preamble of this decision. Moreover, the Council of State held that the regime of geographical restriction within the Greek islands has resulted in unequal distribution of asylum seekers across the national territory and significant pressure on the affected islands compared to other regions.707 A new regulatory Decision of the Director of the Asylum Service was issued three days after the judgment and restored the geographical restriction on the Eastern Aegean islands.708 This Decision was replaced in October 2018 by a new Decision of the Director of the Asylum Service.709 Following an amendment introduced in May 2019 the competence for issuing 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 Article 49(6) Asylum Code. Article 118(1) Asylum Code. Pursuant to Article 78 L 3386/2005. Article 1 (c) Asylum Code clearly states that a ‘third country national or stateless person who declares orally or in writing before any Greek authority, at entry points or in the Greek territory, that they seek asylum or subsidiary protection […] or asks in any way to not be deported to some country due to fear of persecution […]’ is an asylum applicant. See e.g. Human Rights Committee, General Comment No 27 – Article 12 (Freedom of Movement, CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.9, 2 November 1999, available at: http://bit.ly/2uG06Fj. Asylum Service Director Decision 10464, Gov. Gazette Β 1977/7.06.2017. Council of State, Decision 805/2018, 17 April 2018, EDAL, available at: https://bit.ly/2GmvbTI. Asylum Service Director Decision 8269, Gov. Gazette B 1366/20.04.2018. See GCR and Oxfam, ‘GCR and Oxfam issue joint press release on CoS ruling’, 24 April 2018, available at: https://bit.ly/2N0Rwqv. Asylum Service Director Decision 18984, Gov. Gazette B 4427/05.10.2018. 153