Portugal: Regulatory Decree No. 15/1981 of 1981, Statute of the Advisory Commission for Refugees

Date of entry into force:09 April 1981

Article 1 - Chairman

1.The office of Chairman of the Advisory Commission for Refugees shall be held in rotation for a period of one year by the representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Justice.

2. During its first year of operation, the Chairman of the Advisory Commission for Refugees shall be the representative of the Ministry for Home Affairs.

Article 2 - Technical and administrative support

The Advisory Commission for Refugees shall have the necessary technical and administrative staff to provide it with the necessary support for the exercise of the functions entrusted to it.

Article 3 - Personnel

1.The Aliens Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs shall make available to the Commission the personnel referred to in the foregoing article, in keeping with its operational needs.

2. The personnel referred to in paragraph 1 above shall be placed under the authority of the Director of the Aliens Department.

3. The technical and administrative staff shall be directed by a secretary, to be designated from among the officials of a category not lower than letter E in the schedule of public officials.

Article 4 - Secretary

The Secretary shall have the following functions:

(a)To direct the technical and administrative staff;

(b)To submit to the Chairman the cases referred to the Commission by the Aliens Department;

(c)To forward to the rapporteurs the cases distributed by the Chairman;

(d)To enter on the agenda the cases to be examined at each session;

(e)To organize and distribute duly in advance the list of cases for which recommendations are to be adopted in each session of the Commission;

(f)To prepare the records of meetings;

(g)To prepare the Commission's report.

Article 5 - Installations

The Commission shall have premises of its own, to be supplied by the Ministry for Home Affairs.

Article 6 - Operation

The Commission shall meet in ordinary session on the days agreed by its members and in special session whenever it is convened by the Chairman.

Article 7 - Quorum

The Commission may validly meet and take decisions whenever a majority of its members are present.

Article 8 - Register of cases

1.The cases referred by the Aliens Department to the Commission shall be registered in a special book and shall be immediately submitted to the Chairman by the Secretary.

2. Should there by any documents annexed, they shall be recorded.

Article 9 - Distribution

1.The cases shall be distributed equitably by the Chairman, by casting lots, among the members of the Commission.

2. The member to whom a case has been allotted shall act as rapporteur.

3. Once a case has been allotted, it shall be sent to the rapporteur to prepare a draft recommendation.

Article 10 - Consultation of cases kept in the archives

The members of the Commission and the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees may approach the Aliens Department to consult in its premises the cases existing in the archives relating to the granting of the right of asylum.

Article 11 - Inscription in the agenda

When a case has been received by its rapporteur, it shall be inscribed in the agenda for discussion at the session.

Article 12 - Preparation of the schedule of recommendations

At each regular or special session, arrangements shall be made for preparing a schedule indicating the draft recommendations by the respective rapporteurs, which schedule shall be distributed duly in advance to the members of the Commission and to the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Article 13 - Discussion of the draft recommendation

1.The draft recommendation shall be read by the rapporteur and shall thereupon be discussed under the direction of the Chairman, whereupon a vote shall be taken on it.

2. The representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees may participate in the discussion of the draft recommendation.

Article 14 - Vote

1.The Commission's recommendations shall be approved by a majority of the members present.

2. In the event of a tie, the President shall have a second, or casting, vote.

Article 15 - Appointment of a new rapporteur

1.If the rapporteur is overruled and declares that it is impossible for him to express in an adequate manner the recommendation rejected, the case shall be allocated by the Chairman for purposes of reporting to one or other of the members who have voted with the majority.

2. The overruled recommendation shall form an integral part of the record of the proceedings.

Article 16 - Signature

1.Once the final version of the recommendation is voted upon and its text finally drafted, it shall be signed first by the Chairman, then by the rapporteur and by the members who have voted for the recommendation and lastly by those who make declarations explaining their votes.

2. The declaration explaining a vote shall follow immediately after the signature of the member concerned.

3. Should it not be possible to obtain the signature of any of those voting for the recommendation, a declaration shall be attached to it expressing the sense of the vote in question and reproducing the terms of the written declaration, if any.

Article 17 - Records

A record shall be kept of each session, in which the opinion of the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the recommendations taken shall be recorded.

Article 18 - Annex to the proceedings

It shall be mandatory for the file of each case to include an extract from the record reproducing the opinion of the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Article 19 - Confidentiality

The members of the Commission, the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the directing, technical and administrative staff of the Commission who, by virtue of the exercise of their functions, have access to the cases shall maintain confidentiality relating to all the matters therein referred to.

Article 20 - Submission of the case for decision

The case, accompanied by the recommendation and the extract from the record referred to in article 18, shall be submitted to the Ministry for Home Affairs and to the Ministry of Justice for decision.

Article 21 - Honorarium

The members of the Commission and its Secretary shall be entitled to a monthly honorarium, the amount of which shall be determined by a joint order of the Ministry for Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Finance and Planning.

Article 22 - Expenses

The expenses incurred for the operation of the Commission shall be defrayed from a credit inscribed in the budget of the Ministry for Home Affairs.

Article 23 - Resolution of doubts

Any doubts which may arise regarding the application of the present instrument shall be resolved by a joint order issued by the Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister of Justice.