Asylum and Immigration Act 1996

Valid from 01/09/1996

2 Removal etc. of asylum claimants to safe third countries. U.K.

(1) Nothing in section 6 of the 1993 Act (protection of claimants from deportation etc.) shall prevent a person who has made a claim for asylum being removed from the United Kingdom if—

(a) the Secretary of State has certified that, in his opinion, the conditions mentioned in subsection (2) below are fulfilled;

(b) the certificate has not been set aside on an appeal under section 3 below; and

(c) except in the case of a person who is to be sent to a country or territory to which subsection (3) below applies, the time for giving notice of such an appeal has expired and no such appeal is pending.

(2) The conditions are—

(a) that the person is not a national or citizen of the country or territory to which he is to be sent;

(b) that his life and liberty would not be threatened in that country or territory by reason of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion; and

(c) that the government of that country or territory would not send him to another country or territory otherwise than in accordance with the Convention.

(3) This subsection applies to any country or territory which is or forms part of a member State, or is designated for the purposes of this subsection in an order made by the Secretary of State by statutory instrument.

(4) The first order under this section shall not be made unless a draft of the order has been laid before and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

(5) A statutory instrument containing a subsequent order under this section shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(6) For the purposes of this section, an appeal under section 3 below is pending during the period beginning when notice of appeal is duly given and ending when the appeal is finally determined or withdrawn.

(7) In this section “claim for asylum” and “the Convention” have the same meanings as in the 1993 Act.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 2 amended (retrospectively) by 1999 c. 33, s. 169(2), Sch. 15 para. 2

Commencement Information

I1 S. 2 wholly in force at 1.9.1996; s. 2 not in force at Royal Assent see s. 13(3); s. 2 in force at 1.9.1996 by S.I. 1996/2053, art. 2, Sch. Pt. II