Study supporting the implementation of the facilitators package : final report

The 'Study supporting the implementation of the "Facilitators Package"' (the 'Study') will support the Commission with the implementation of the Facilitators Package, composed of Council Directive 2002/90/EC of 28 November 2002 defining the facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit, and residence (the 'Facilitation Directive') and Council Framework Decision 2002/946/JHA of 28 November 2002 on the strengthening of the penal framework to prevent the facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit, and residence (the 'Council Framework Decision'). In the renewed EU Action Plan against migrant smuggling (2021-2025), the Commission communicated the intention to report on the implementation of the Facilitators Package and the 2020 Commission Guidance in 2023. The findings of that report should feed into an evaluation, by the Commission, of whether this legal framework, which dates from 2002, is still fit to address the challenges posed in the current context. This Study will feed into the Commission's implementation report. The Study's primary objectives are twofold: (i) to provide an update of the implementation of the Facilitators Package in the Member States since 2017 and identify both challenges and instances of non-compliance and (ii) to provide a targeted overview of the implementation of the 2020 Commission Guidance, notably, whether any policy or legislative action was taken at Member State level in connection with the Guidance. The Study should, in particular, focus on the treatment of humanitarian assistance by the Member States in the context of transposition of the Facilitators Package, especially in light of the 2020 Commission Guidance. Further to the above, the Study will also seek to gather comprehensive and comparable data that evidence the scale of criminalisation of humanitarian assistance in practice in a selection of Member States.