Annual report for status determination procedure in Bulgaria for 2022

This report is based on monitoring with a focus on the institutional framework and the effective interaction among the various state authorities, as well as on the legal and practical standards for conducting the procedures, as they are regulated in the Law on Asylum and Refugees, and the compliance thereof with the principles of international protection and the general legal standards in the asylum acquis of the European Union (acquis communautaire).

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) monitors the procedures conducted by SAR at all its centres in Sofia, Harmanli, Banya, and Pastrogor. The monitoring encompasses all the phases of the administrative procedure at SAR. It is carried out on a weekly ad hoc basis and consists of gathering data about the ways, means and practices of conducting the RSD, which is entered in standard forms for interview evaluation, decision evaluation, and the monitoring of court proceedings.

In order to ensure statistical comparability, and as agreed with the  SAR in 2021, the monitored procedures encompassed 100 registrations, 250 interviews within the status determination procedure, 100 decisions issued by SAR, and 50 court hearings related to cases against decisions refusing international protection or a total of 500 procedural actions. The selection of the cases is random with an effort to reflect as diverse cases as possible and represent all specific groups, based on age, gender, vulnerabilities, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 prevented the precise delivery of the quantitative indicators set in advance, as a result of which the actions monitored were, as follows: 149% (149 out of 100) registrations, 90% (226 out of 250) interviews, 68% (68 out of 100) evaluations of SAR decisions, and 34% (17 out of 50) court proceedings.