Amended version of the EU Reception Conditions Directive (recast)

In the European Union, but for Denmark and Ireland who opted out of the EU Reception Conditions Directive (hereafter RCD), the right to work of asylum seekers (and now persons in need of international protection), is governed by article 11 of the Reception Conditions Directive (see our caselaw section, case of ZO. vs SSHD, UK Supreme Court).

The European Commission (EC) amended article 11 RCD in a first proposal to recast the 2003 RCD in 2008. This first proposal of the European Commission has triggered the hostility of European Member States. In June 2011 the European Commission introduced an "amended proposal" to its 2008 proposal to recast the RCD Directive.

Article 11 should be replaced by article 15 in the 2008 RCD. The amended proposal of the European Commission is a step forward in enabling effective access of asylum seekers to their right to work, but European Member States have introduced worrying disposals and exception to the rule granting the right to work automatically after a maximum six months period after the introduction of the asylum claim. 

Click HERE to find the EC June 2011 Amended proposal to the 2008 proposal to recast the RCD. European Member States are expected to discuss it in the coming months, but one shall not realistically expect voting before the end of 2011/ beginning of 2013 (but for a legislative miracle?).