The National Commission for the Right of Asylum and the Local Commissions

THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR THE RIGHT OF ASYLUM

It is tasked with the guidance and coordination of the Local Commissions; it trains and re-trains the members of the Local Commissions and it collects statistical data. It has decision-making power with regard to withdrawal and cessation of granted status.

THE LOCAL COMMISSIONS FOR THE RECOGNITION OF REFUGEE STATUS

They examine the applications for the recognition of “refugee status” at decentralised level.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In Italy the first body that dealt with the eligibility procedure and the recognition of “refugee status” was the Joint Eligibility Commission (Cpe).
The Commission was established by means of an exchange of letters between the Italian Government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on 22nd July 1952 and officially ratified by means of an interministerial decree of 24th November 1953.

Subsequently, the Martelli Law (Law decree 416/89, amended and turned into Law 39/90 entitled “Urgent Provisions on Political Asylum, Entry and Stay of non-EU Nationals, and Regularisation of non-EU Nationals and Stateless Persons already present on the Territory of the State) repealed the effects of the declaration of the geographic limits in the national legal system; furthermore it provided for the Government to rearrange bodies and procedures for the examination of applications for the recognition of “refugee status” within 60 days.

The Bossi-Fini Law (Law No. 189/2002 entitled “Modification of Legislation on Immigration and Asylum”, in particular chapter II “Provisions on Asylum”) considerably amended previous legislation.
Furthermore the Central Commission for the Recognition of “Refugee Status” was turned into the “National Commission for the Right of Asylum” and the Local Commissions were established, thereby bringing about a decentralisation of the examination of asylum applications.

The new legislation was completed when the Execution Regulations entered into force (President’s of the Republic Decree “Regulations concerning the Procedures for the Recognition of Refugee Status”, published in the Official Journal of the Republic on 22nd December 2004); it regulates the various procedure phases, the functioning of the identification centres and the functions of both the National Commission for the Right of Asylum and of the Local Commissions.