FAQ

Country of Origin Information (COI) refers to information on countries from which applicants for international protection originate. COI is essential during the asylum determination process as it assists asylum officials in assessing and substantiating claims for international protection at all stages of the procedure.

COI facilitates and supports decision-making processes but does not dictate decisions. It is distinct from country guidance and legal assessments. COI constitutes evidence in the international protection procedure and is important in making a fact-based assessment of international protection needs.

COI assists asylum practitioners in answering questions about:

• Culture, religion, nationality, ethnicity
• Human rights and security situations
• Political, societal and legal situations
• Humanitarian, economic and geographical conditions
• Specific events taking place in countries of origin.

In the field of COI, EASO “shall organise, promote and coordinate activities relating to information on countries of origin” (EASO Founding Regulation, article 4).

EUAA aims to contribute to the harmonisation of COI practices and products, to raise quality standards, and to strengthen information-sharing and COI cooperation among all Member States, plus Norway and Switzerland (hereafter “EU+ countries" or "EU+").

According to the May 2015 European Agenda on Migration, “EASO will step up practical cooperation, developing a role as the clearing house of national Country of Origin Information”; in other words, EASO is to become a point of reference in providing centralised COI.

EUAA:

• establishes and manages COI Specialist Networks based on EU+ information needs. The COI networks are composed of national COI researchers specialised on a specific country or region of origin. The networks aim to exchange information, harmonise practices and contribute to drafting or reviewing joint EUAA COI reports. Currently, the following networks are active:
• Afghanistan
• Eritrea
• Iran
• Iraq
• Pakistan
• Russia, Ukraine, CIS
• Somalia
• Syria
• Ukraine
• West Africa
• organises bi-annual COI Strategic Network (composed of heads of services or persons responsible for COI in EU+ asylum authorities) meetings;
• facilitates and coordinates the joint production of COI reports on main countries of origin at EU level;
• develops methodologies and guidance, such as the EUAA COI Report Methodology, and COI practical guides;
• organises COI workshops/conferences on specific countries or topics;
• coordinates the drafting and ensures the quality of responses to COI queries;
• assists EU+ states in COI capacity-building.

COI Products include: COI reports (country or topical reports; fact-finding mission reports), factsheets, responses to specific queries, chronologies, lists of sources, power-point presentations delivered during workshops/conferences, conference reports or proceedings. Guides/manuals on COI research methodologies, tools or quality are also considered as COI products.

• COI products (co-)authored by EU+ national COI services[1]; this may include COI products jointly produced by national COI services and civil society;
• EUAA COI products;
• Selected COI products authored by external experts invited by EUAA in the framework of EUAA workshops or conferences;
• Selected COI products produced by EU institutions (for example, the European External Action Service. See FAQ 10).

Approximately 95% of the content of EUAA’s COI Portal is public and accessible to any user. There is no need to register to access public documents or to perform a full search in the COI Portal. However, a user can choose to receive personalised alerts (email notification) regarding areas / countries of origin of specific interest (together with all EUAA COI News).

[1] This includes COI units independent from the national authorities, but mandated by national authorities to deliver COI.

• All COI products provided by EU+ states, EUAA or EU institutions are carefully selected according to European COI standards as enshrined in the EUAA COI Report Methodology (such as, for example, neutrality and transparency). For the purpose of the COI Portal, additional criteria apply such as relevance to the asylum field and publication date (documents not older than 10 years, with some exceptions).
• National asylum authorities are responsible for selecting the national COI products delivered to the COI Portal on the basis of the standards listed above. In national asylum authorities, the "National COI Portal Administrator" (NCPA) is the focal point between national asylum services and EUAA.
• EUAA is responsible for checking all documents against European COI standards.
• EUAA selects information provided in the news according to its relevance to the COI and asylum fields.

Information available in the COI Portal comes from:

• EU+ national COI services: All national COI services can provide documents according to well-defined criteria (see FAQ 7). 
• EUAA
• Selected EU institutions (European External Action Service/EEAS, European Commission, etc.See FAQ 10-11).

COI published by EU+ countries may not be available on the web or may be scattered in various public portals. COI from NGOs, the UN and other organisations is not collected in the COI Portal since such information can be easily accessed via other complementary platforms such as ecoi.net or Refworld. (See FAQ 12)

The following EU institutions have been identified as COI providers:

• EU External Action Service (EEAS)
• The European Commission
• The European Parliament
• The European Commission's Humanitarian aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO)
• The European Commission’s Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development
  

In the future, more EU institutions may be added to EUAA's list of EU Institutions providing COI.

The EU External Action Service (EEAS), for example, publishes reports following election-observation missions in several countries. The European Commission's Humanitarian aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) produces factsheets on countries where it is operational or on which it works. The European Commission publishes country progress reports for candidate countries, in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP).

COI authored by non-governmental organisations, international organisations, research institutes, etc. is not collected in the COI Portal since such information can be easily accessed via other complementary platforms such as ecoi.net or Refworld.

However, some COI services in EU+ states produce joint reports with civil society. These products are available on the COI Portal.

Also, COI products authored by external experts invited by EUAA in the framework of EUAA workshops or conferences may be made available here.

An internal user is an employee of a national asylum authority or any body mandated by the national government to carry out COI research. This person must either be:

• a member of the national COI unit;
• a member of an EUAA COI Specialist Network (e.g. Somalia Network);
• a COI researcher, in those cases where a dedicated COI unit does not exist in a national asylum administration.

Each national asylum administration is responsible for granting this type of access to a COI specialist as defined above.

• a member of the national COI unit;
• a member of an EUAA COI Specialist Network (e.g. Somalia Network);
• a COI researcher, in those cases where a dedicated COI unit does not exist in a national asylum administration.