Transit zone

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A transit zone or a transit area at international airports is the area that enables a transfer to another aircraft for onward travel to another country without the passenger first being subjected to an immigration control. From the point of view of those arriving, a transit zone is located in front of the customs and border control systems .

In connection with the refugee crisis in Europe in 2015 , Hungary not only created transit zones at airports, but redefined them in the form of fenced and locked refugee camps by law of September 24, 2015 and established them in areas at the national borders. In other countries, planning to set up such transit zones is politically controversial. By their opponents they are partially tapered as "adhesion zones" or "prison" because refugees by criminalizing would, asylum seekers here in the case of refusal of its request for the immediate rejection have to fear and their freedom of movement is restricted until the decision on their application is made.

term

The term transit zone comes from European law and is used in the Visa Code and the Dublin III Regulation as an international transit zone ( English international transit area , also international area , French zone international de transit , also zone international ), in the admission directive and the Directive 2013/32 / EU (Asylum Procedure Directive), on the other hand, is known as the transit zone ( English transit zone , French zone de transit ). In the German legal system, the term transit zone has so far only been found sporadically. The term transit area is often used there - regardless of the subject matter.

In all legal provisions, the term refers to the facilities at airports that have always existed in the European Union and in third countries. The term is not defined anywhere; its significance is assumed to be known.

Previous practice in Germany

An important transit area in Germany is the area of Frankfurt am Main Airport , where flights arrive and depart from many countries around the world. In this area, the airport procedure according to § 18a Asylum Act takes place, in which a refugee files his asylum application before passing the immigration control, is heard there and receives the decision there. In the transit area there is a refugee accommodation in which an asylum seeker has to stay until a decision about his protection request, if necessary until a decision is made whether he is allowed to enter (Section 18a (6) AsylG).

Considerations on transit zones at the German borders

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In view of the refugee crisis in 2015 , there was a discussion in Germany of practicing the airport procedure at the German national borders by setting up transit zones (→  asylum reform efforts 2015 ). On October 1, it became known that Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière was having his ministry draft a law , details of which can be found in a reference below. This draft provides for the introduction of the airport procedure - which should lead to a considerable acceleration of the asylum procedure - also in the vicinity of the borders with Germany's neighboring countries. On October 7th, Chancellor Angela Merkel entrusted the head of the Federal Chancellery, Peter Altmaier, with the overall political coordination of all "aspects of the current refugee situation". Altmaier publicly stated on October 11th: "Transit zones can be a reasonable element, but they alone cannot solve the problem."

Federal Justice Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) vehemently rejected transit zones the next day. There were considerable doubts as to the practical feasibility of the proposal to also carry out the airport procedure at national borders. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) would have to decide on a large number of asylum applications within just two days, but it was already overloaded. In addition, it is unclear how the waiting refugees should be accommodated at the borders and in what form the national borders could be controlled. SPD General Secretary Yasmin Fahimi described the project on October 13th as "impractical". On October 23, 2015, the SPD agreed in principle to Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière's proposal at federal level .

On November 1, a two-hour first peak meeting of the government coalition took place in the Federal Chancellery on the refugee crisis (participants: Angela Merkel for the CDU , Horst Seehofer for the CSU , Sigmar Gabriel for the SPD ), which did not lead to a quick agreement. November was continued. In a subsequent statement after the meeting on November 1, Gabriel spoke of “detention zones” instead of “transit zones”; these are to be rejected. SZ editor-in-chief Kurt Kister commented on this as an “ outrageous charge”.

Restricting the stay to a transit zone does not reduce freedom, because one can leave the country at any time; it only limits the additional possibility of staying in the country.

With the Asylum Package II , the creation of so-called “special reception facilities” (BAE) was anchored in the Asylum Act (Section 5 (5b) in conjunction with Section 30a AsylG). In 2017, three “transit centers” were created in Bavaria: the Bavarian transit center Manching-Ingolstadt through the rededication of an arrival and return facility (ARE) and two more through the conversion of reception facilities in Regensburg and Deggendorf. The coalition agreement of February 2018 spoke of anchor centers in which asylum seekers should remain until a positive prospect of staying or deportation is determined. As of August 2018, all existing Bavarian initial reception facilities and transit centers were renamed "anchor centers".

Legal framework

Recital 38 of Directive 2013/32 / EU (Asylum Procedure Directive) only gives a vague indication of where transit zones are permitted under European law . It reads:

“Many applications for international protection are made at the border or in transit zones of a Member State before a decision on the applicant's entry has been made. Member States should be able to establish procedures for examining the admissibility and / or merits of applications, which enable such applications to be decided on the spot in well-defined circumstances. "

Article 43 of Directive 2013/32 / EU, which deals with the procedure at the border , regulates the details.

Pursuant to Article 43 (1), Member States may lay down procedures to decide at the border or in transit zones of the Member State on the admissibility or the merits of an application made in such places. The general procedural guarantees must be observed. Only the criteria mentioned in Article 33 and Article 31 (8) fall into the examination of admissibility and merits.

According to Article 43 (2), a decision must be taken within a reasonable time. If no decision has been taken within four weeks, the applicant must be allowed to enter the territory of the Member State so that his application can be processed there.

If, due to the arrival of a significant number of third-country nationals or stateless persons at the border or in transit zones who formally submit applications for international protection, it is not possible in practice to apply the provisions of paragraph 1, the procedures mentioned may also be used in these cases and apply for the period in which third-country nationals or stateless persons are normally accommodated near the border or transit zone (Article 43 (3)).

The directive does not make any direct statement on the question of whether transit zones may be set up on a land border with a neighboring country. However, it emerges from Article 43 (2) and Recital 38 that the person concerned must not yet have entered the territory of the Member State. “Entry” is a term that refers to the respective Member State, not to the border regime. Entry can legally take place at an external Schengen border and also at an internal Schengen border .

The regulation of Article 43 paragraph 3 indicates that in the event of a significant rush at the border, facilities can be created inland in which the same regulations apply as in the transit zone directly at the border. This provision also does not provide any information on the permissibility of establishing transit zones at an internal Schengen border. The establishment of additional inland facilities stands and falls with the establishment of the transit zone itself.

So far there is no case law of the European Court of Justice on the above provisions.

Web links

Wiktionary: transit zone  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The transit zones have little to do with transit , welt.de of October 12, 2015, accessed on November 1, 2015.
  2. ↑ Paul Flückiger: Hungary turns refugees into criminals , article on tagesspiegel.de from September 15, 2015
  3. ↑ Hungary violates human rights , report and background information from September 21, 2015 as part of an urgent action by Amnesty International (online at amnesty.de, accessed on November 22, 2015)
  4. ↑ See Recital 5, Art. 1 Paragraph 3, Art. 2 No. 2 and 5, Art. 3 Paragraph 1 and 2, Art. 26 Paragraph 1 and 5; Art. 53 para. 1 letter b), Annexes IV and V.
  5. ↑ See Art. 2 Letter m), Art. 3 Paragraph 1.
  6. ↑ See Art. 3 para. 1, 10 para. 5, 11 para. 6, 18 para. 1 letter a).
  7. ↑ See Recitals 26, 38, Art. 2 Letter p), Art. 3, Art. 8 Paragraphs 1 and 2; Art. 23 Paragraph 2, Art. 29 Paragraph 1 Letter a), Art. 31 Paragraph 8, Art. 43 Paragraph 1 and 3, Art. 46 Paragraph 1 Letter a).
  8. ↑ Section 6 subs. 1 no. 2 AufenthG, Section 99 subs. 3 a AufenthG.
  9. ↑ Section 15 (6) of the Residence Act, Section 62b (2) of the Residence Act, Section 26 (2) of the Residence Ordinance with Annex C, Section 9 (1) of the Asylum Act.
  10. ↑ CSU calls for "transit zones" at the national borders . tagesspiegel.de, September 29, 2015
  11. ↑ a b Katharina Schuler and Marius Elfering: What do transit zones bring? zeit.de, October 12, 2015, accessed October 15, 2015
  12. ↑ Günter Bannas : Not on the line of the Chancellor faz.net, October 1, 2015
  13. ↑ Peter Altmaier: "We have to accept reality" , bundesregierung.de, October 11, 2015 (excerpt from an interview in Bild am Sonntag )
  14. ↑ Refugees: Altmaier announces a quick decision on transit zones , spiegel.de, October 11, 2015
  15. ↑ Justice Minister vehemently rejects transit zones for refugees , sueddeutsche.de, October 12, 2015
  16. ↑ Everyday work in the refugee office: “I'm at the limit in terms of performance” , spiegel.de, October 10, 2015
  17. ↑ Rapid asylum procedure: SPD insists on no to transit zones , spiegel.de, October 13, 2015
  18. ↑ The federal government can deport faster immediately , report from n-tv dated October 23, 2015, accessed on November 1, 2015.
  19. ↑ Kurt Kister: Sigmar Gabriel and his outrageous reproach , SZ-Online on November 1, 2015 (with the original video of Gabriel's speech), accessed on the same day
  20. ↑ Transit Centers & ARE: The Bavarian deportation camps. Refugee Council Bavaria, accessed on December 15, 2017 .
  21. ↑ Accommodation for refugees: initial reception, transit center or anchor center? In: sonntagsblatt.de. September 9, 2018, accessed August 29, 2019 .
  22. ↑ So also § 13 and § 14 AufenthG, which relate the entry process to entry into the federal territory .
  23. ↑ As of November 1, 2015.