International Protection Act 2026

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Chapter 5

Special procedures

Accelerated examination procedure

173. (1) Without prejudice to section 180 , the Determining Authority shall, in accordance with the basic principles and guarantees provided for in Chapter II of the Asylum Procedures Regulation, accelerate the examination on the merits of an application for international protection where—

(a) the applicant, in lodging his or her application and presenting the facts, has only raised issues that are not relevant to the examination of whether he or she qualifies as a beneficiary of international protection in accordance with the Qualification Regulation,

(b) the applicant has made clearly inconsistent or contradictory or clearly false or obviously improbable representations or representations which contradict relevant and available country of origin information, thus making his or her claim clearly unconvincing as to whether he or she qualifies as a beneficiary of international protection in accordance with the Qualification Regulation,

(c) the applicant, after having been provided with the full opportunity to show good cause, is considered to have intentionally misled the authorities by presenting false information or documents or by withholding relevant information or documents, particularly with respect to his or her identity or nationality, that could have had a negative impact on the decision or there are clear grounds to consider that the applicant has, in bad faith, destroyed or disposed of an identity or travel document in order to prevent the establishment of his or her identity or nationality,

(d) the applicant makes an application merely to delay, frustrate or prevent the enforcement of a decision for his or her removal from the territory of the State,

(e) a third country may be considered to be a safe country of origin for the applicant,

(f) there are reasonable grounds to consider the applicant a danger to the national security or public order of the State or the applicant had been forcibly expelled for serious reasons of national security or public order under the national law of a Member State,

(g) the application is a subsequent application which is not inadmissible,

(h) the applicant entered the territory of the State unlawfully and, without good reason, has not made an application as soon as possible, given the circumstances of his or her entry,

(i) the applicant entered the territory of the State lawfully and, without good reason, has not made an application as soon as possible, given the grounds of his or her application, without prejudice to the need of international protection arising sur place, or

(j) the applicant is a national, or in the case of stateless persons, a former habitual resident, of a third country for which the proportion of decisions by the Determining Authority granting international protection is, according to the latest available yearly Union-wide average Eurostat data, 20 per cent or lower, unless the Determining Authority assesses that a significant change has occurred in the third country concerned since the publication of the relevant Eurostat data or that the applicant belongs to a category of persons for whom the proportion of 20 per cent or lower cannot be considered to be representative for their protection needs, taking into account, inter alia, the significant differences between first instance and final decisions.

(2) Where the Asylum Agency has provided a guidance note on a country of origin in accordance with Article 11 of the European Union Agency for Asylum Regulation showing that a significant change has occurred in the third country concerned since the publication of the relevant Eurostat data, the Determining Authority shall use that guidance note as a reference for the application of paragraph (j) of subsection (1).

(3) Where the Determining Authority considers that the examination of the application involves issues of fact or law that are too complex to be examined under an accelerated examination procedure, it may continue the examination on the merits in accordance with sections 168 and 170 and, where it does so, shall inform the applicant concerned accordingly of the change in the procedure.

(4) The accelerated examination procedure may be applied to unaccompanied minors only where—

(a) the applicant comes from a third country that may be considered to be a safe country of origin,

(b) there are reasonable grounds to consider the applicant as a danger to the national security or public order of the State or the applicant had been forcibly expelled for serious reasons of national security or public order under the national law of a Member State,

(c) the application is a subsequent application which is not inadmissible,

(d) the applicant, after having been provided with the full opportunity to show good cause, is considered to have intentionally misled the authorities by presenting false information or documents or by withholding relevant information or documents, particularly with respect to his or her identity or nationality, that could have had a negative impact on the decision or there are clear grounds to consider that the applicant has, in bad faith, destroyed or disposed of an identity or travel document in order to prevent the establishment of his or her identity or nationality,

(e) the applicant is a national, or in the case of stateless persons, a former habitual resident, of a third country for which the proportion of decisions granting international protection by the Determining Authority is, according to the latest available yearly Union-wide average Eurostat data, 20 per cent or lower, unless the Determining Authority assesses a significant change has occurred in the third country concerned since the publication of the relevant Eurostat data or that the applicant belongs to a category of persons for whom the proportion of 20 per cent or lower cannot be considered to be representative for their protection needs, taking into account, inter alia, significant differences between first instance and final decisions.

(5) Where the Asylum Agency has provided a guidance note on a country of origin in accordance with Article 11 of the European Union Agency for Asylum Regulation showing that a significant change has occurred in the third country concerned since the publication of the relevant Eurostat data, the Determining Authority shall use that guidance note as a reference for the application of paragraph (e) of subsection (4).