Author
Special Accommodation Closed Areas
According to Article 19^7(1) of the Asylum Act, detention in specially designed closed spaces is ordered for a period of 30 days. IGI may request the territorially competent Court of Appeal to prolong detention for an additional 30-day period.[1] Accordingly, the total period of detention in those spaces may never exceed 60 days.[2]
IGI-DAI has to carry out the examination of the applicant’s identity and establishment of the elements of the asylum claim expeditiously in order to maintain the measure of detention as short as possible. Delays due to the administrative procedures that cannot be imputed to the applicant cannot justify a continuation of detention, except for situations where it is necessary to continue to apply the measure for reasons of national security, without exceeding the 60-day limit.[3]
Detention (“public custody”) centres
Detention in public custody centres is also ordered for an initial period of 30 days[4] and it may not exceed 6 months.[5] However, this period may be extended exceptionally for an additional period no longer than 12 months, in cases where IGI-DAI is unable to transfer the asylum seeker to the responsible Member State due to delays in obtaining the necessary documentation for the transfer to the respective Member State.[6] Therefore, detention in public custody can last up to 18 months.
Specifically, as regards detention in the Dublin procedure, the Asylum Act recalls that detention ceases if the time limit of six weeks set out in Article 28(3) of the Dublin Regulation is reached.[7]
When asylum seekers lodge an application in detention centres and are assessed under the accelerated procedure, they spend the whole asylum procedure in detention.
According to the observations following the Ombudsman’s visit to the centre carried out on 27 June 2024, at the Otopeni Detention Center: “The duration of accommodation for these individuals ranged between one month and 11 months. The maximum period for which foreigners could be detained was 18 months, after which automatic toleration intervened, meaning that the person could reside and work in Romania until the causes that prevented their removal from the country were resolved.[8]
A Tunisian national detained in Otopeni declared during the author’s visit that he had been detained for one year in Arad. According to the directors of Otopeni the average duration of detention in 2022 was 3-5 months.
According to IGI-DAI, in 2019, the average duration of detention was 1-5 months.[9] In 2020, IGI-DAI reported an average duration of detention of 264 days.[10] In 2022 and 2023[11] IGI-DAI said they had no statistics regarding the average duration of the procedure.[12] According to the report on the Ombudsman’s visit carried out on 27 June 2024, at the Otopeni Detention Center, the duration of accommodation for detainees ranged between one month and 11 months.[13]
Detention in border and transit zones
Detention upon apprehension cannot exceed 24 hours under the Romanian Constitution and the Criminal Procedure Code.[14] According to the ITPF Timișoara persons apprehended were not held for more than 24 hours in Border Police custody. No updated information or reports were available for 2024.
[1] Article 19^7(3) Asylum Act.
[2] ibid. Article 19^7(5).
[3] ibid. Article 19^7(6).
[4] ibid. Article 19^14(1).
[5] ibid. Article 19^14(6).
[6] ibid. Article 19^14(7).
[7] ibid. Article 19^14(10).
[8] Ombudsman visit report in Otopeni Detention Centre, 27 June 2024, available here.
[9] Information provided by IGI-DAI, 20 February 2020.
[10] ibid. 16 February 2021.
[11] ibid. 18 January 2024.
[12] ibid. 22 February 2023.
[13] Ombudsman visit report in Otopeni Detention Centre, 27 June 2024, available here.
[14] Article 23 Romanian Constitution; Article 209 Criminal Procedure Code.