Legalize
Legalize / European Union / Regulation

Regulation (EU) 2026/2280 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 October 2026 establishing a common system for the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the Union, and repealing Directive 2008/115/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Directive 2001/40/EC and Council Decision 2004/191/EC

Type Regulation
Publication 2026-10-15
State In force
Text As published
Department Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Source EUR-Lex
articles 50

This is the act as published. Later amendments are not folded into the text below: each one is a separate act in this repository and an entry in this law's history.

Reform history JSON API
6.

The assistance referred to in this Article shall not be granted to third-country nationals who already benefited from another or the same support provided by a Member State or the Union. The Union, Member States and Frontex shall ensure coherence and coordination on reintegration assistance.

CHAPTER X FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 45

Emergency situations
1.

In situations where an exceptionally large number of third-country nationals to be returned places an unforeseen and heavy burden on the capacity of the detention facilities of a Member State or on its administrative or judicial staff, such a Member State may, as long as the exceptional situation persists, decide to allow for periods longer than those provided for in Article 27(1), Article 31(3) and Article 36(7) and to take urgent measures in respect of the conditions of detention derogating from those set out in Article 32(1) and Article 33(2). Member States may temporarily adjust administrative procedures and internal reporting requirements to expedite return operations, provided that such adjustments are strictly necessary to address the exceptional situation.

2.

When resorting to such exceptional measures, the Member State concerned shall inform the Commission without delay. It shall also inform the Commission as soon as the reasons for applying these exceptional measures have ceased to exist.

3.

Nothing in this Article shall be interpreted as allowing Member States to derogate from their general obligation to take all appropriate measures, whether general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of their obligations under this Regulation.

Article 46

Statistics
1.

For monitoring of readmission cooperation with third countries, the Commission may on an annual basis request the following data to be communicated to Frontex, regarding relevant third countries, disaggregated per each third country:

  • (a) number of requests for confirmation of nationality and number of positive and negative replies received concerning confirmation of nationality requests;
  • (b) number of requests for issuance of travel documents, of which the number of requests for issuance of travel documents in cases where nationality was confirmed, number of travel documents issued by the third-country authorities and number of negative replies concerning the request for issuance of travel documents.
2.

Frontex shall grant the Commission access to the data referred to in paragraph 1. The data referred to in paragraph 1, points (a) and (b), disaggregated by Member State, may be communicated to third countries for the purposes of monitoring the implementation of, and compliance with, readmission obligations, including in the framework of the Union readmission instruments.

3.

Member States shall, upon request of the Commission, provide the necessary information for completing the assessment pursuant to Article 7(9), in particular statistics on the number of third-country nationals subject to return decisions issued by another Member State and the number of third-country nationals removed or returned on the basis of recognised return decisions and, where relevant, decisions ordering removal issued by another Member State within a specified period of time.

4.

The Commission shall, for the purposes of this Article and where possible, make use of the information made available under Regulation (EC) No 862/2007.

5.

Where the Commission submits a legislative proposal under Article 7(10), it shall, if necessary, propose amendments to this Article, taking into account relevant legislative developments in digitalisation.

Article 47

Committee procedure
1.

The Commission shall be assisted by a committee. That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.

2.

Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply. Where the Committee delivers no opinion, the Commission shall not adopt the draft implementing act, and Article 5(4), third subparagraph, of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.

Article 48

Reporting
1.

By 17 October 2031 and every five years thereafter, the Commission shall report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the application of this Regulation in the Member States and shall, where appropriate, propose amendments.

2.

Member States shall, at the request of the Commission, send available information necessary for drawing up its report pursuant to paragraph 1 no later than nine months before the time limit expires. The Commission shall, where possible, make use of the information made available under Regulation (EC) No 862/2007.

Article 49

Repeal
1.

Directive 2008/115/EC, Directive 2001/40/EC and Decision 2004/191/EC are repealed for the Member States bound by this Regulation, with effect from 17 October 2027.

2.

References to the repealed Directives and Decision shall be construed as references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table in the Annex.

Article 50

Entry into force and application
1.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

2.

Article 1, Article 2(1), (2) and (3), Article 3, point (3), Article 4, Article 5(13) and (15), and Articles 14, 15, 16, 34, 35, 41, 43, 47, 48 and 49 shall apply from 16 October 2026.

3.

The remaining provisions of this Regulation shall apply from 17 October 2027.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in the Member States in accordance with the Treaties.

Done at Strasbourg, 7 October 2026.

For the European Parliament

The President

R. METSOLA

For the Council

The President

T. BYRNE

[^ntr1-L_202602280EN.000101-E0001]: OJ C, C/2026/33, 16.1.2026, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/33/oj.

[^ntr2-L_202602280EN.000101-E0002]: Position of the European Parliament of 17 June 2026 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 1 October 2026.

[^ntr3-L_202602280EN.000101-E0003]: Regulation (EU) 2024/1351 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 on asylum and migration management, amending Regulations (EU) 2021/1147 and (EU) 2021/1060 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 (OJ L, 2024/1351, 22.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1351/oj).

[^ntr4-L_202602280EN.000101-E0004]: Council Directive 2001/40/EC of 28 May 2001 on the mutual recognition of decisions on the expulsion of third country nationals(OJ L 149, 2.6.2001, p. 34, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2001/40/oj)

[^ntr5-L_202602280EN.000101-E0005]: Directive 2008/115/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on common standards and procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nationals (OJ L 348, 24.12.2008, p. 98, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2008/115/oj).

[^ntr6-L_202602280EN.000101-E0006]: Commission Recommendation (EU) 2017/2338 of 16 November 2017 establishing a common ‘Return Handbook’ to be used by Member States’ competent authorities when carrying out return-related tasks (OJ L 339, 19.12.2017, p. 83, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reco/2017/2338/oj).

[^ntr7-L_202602280EN.000101-E0007]: Commission Recommendation (EU) 2023/682 of 16 March 2023 on mutual recognition of return decisions and expediting returns when implementing Directive 2008/115/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 86, 24.3.2023, p. 58, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reco/2023/682/oj).

[^ntr8-L_202602280EN.000101-E0008]: Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 establishing a common procedure for international protection in the Union and repealing Directive 2013/32/EU (OJ L, 2024/1348, 22.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1348/oj).

[^ntr9-L_202602280EN.000101-E0009]: Regulation (EU) 2024/1349 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 establishing a return border procedure, and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/1148 (OJ L, 2024/1349, 22.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1349/oj).

[^ntr10-L_202602280EN.000101-E0010]: Regulation (EU) 2018/1726 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018 on the European Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), and amending Regulation (EC) No 1987/2006 and Council Decision 2007/533/JHA and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1077/2011 (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 99, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/1726/oj).

[^ntr11-L_202602280EN.000101-E0011]: Regulation (EU) 2024/1356 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 introducing the screening of third-country nationals at the external borders and amending Regulations (EC) No 767/2008, (EU) 2017/2226, (EU) 2018/1240 and (EU) 2019/817 (OJ L, 2024/1356, 22.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1356/oj).

[^ntr12-L_202602280EN.000101-E0012]: Council Regulation (EU) 2022/922 of 9 June 2022 on the establishment and operation of an evaluation and monitoring mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen acquis, and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1053/2013 (OJ L 160, 15.6.2022, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/922/oj)

[^ntr13-L_202602280EN.000101-E0013]: Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas (Visa Code) (OJ L 243, 15.9.2009, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2009/810/oj).

[^ntr14-L_202602280EN.000101-E0014]: Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2019 on the European Border and Coast Guard and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1052/2013 and (EU) 2016/1624 (OJ L 295, 14.11.2019, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/1896/oj).

[^ntr15-L_202602280EN.000101-E0015]: Regulation (EU) 2018/1860 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the use of the Schengen Information System for the return of illegally staying third-country nationals (OJ L 312, 7.12.2018, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/1860/oj).

[^ntr16-L_202602280EN.000101-E0016]: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj).

[^ntr17-L_202602280EN.000101-E0017]: Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/1725/oj).

[^ntr18-L_202602280EN.000101-E0018]: Regulation (EU) 2021/1147 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021 establishing the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (OJ L 251, 15.7.2021, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/1147/oj).

[^ntr19-L_202602280EN.000101-E0019]: Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 311/76 on the compilation of statistics on foreign workers (OJ L 199, 31.7.2007, p. 2, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2007/862/oj).

[^ntr20-L_202602280EN.000101-E0020]: Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by the Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/182/oj).

[^ntr21-L_202602280EN.000101-E0021]: Council Decision 2004/191/EC of 23 February 2004 setting out the criteria and practical arrangements for the compensation of the financial imbalances resulting from the application of Directive 2001/40/EC on the mutual recognition of decisions on the expulsion of third-country nationals (OJ L 60, 27.2.2004, p. 55, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2004/191/oj).

[^ntr22-L_202602280EN.000101-E0022]: OJ L 176, 10.7.1999, p. 36, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/agree_internation/1999/439(1)/oj.

[^ntr23-L_202602280EN.000101-E0023]: Council Decision 1999/437/EC of 17 May 1999 on certain arrangements for the application of the Agreement concluded by the Council of the European Union and the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway concerning the association of those two States with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis (OJ L 176, 10.7.1999, p. 31, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/1999/437/oj).

[^ntr24-L_202602280EN.000101-E0024]: OJ L 53, 27.2.2008, p. 52, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/agree_internation/2008/178(1)/oj.

[^ntr25-L_202602280EN.000101-E0025]: Council Decision 2008/146/EC of 28 January 2008 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Community, of the Agreement between the European Union, the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the Swiss Confederation’s association with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis (OJ L 53, 27.2.2008, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2008/146/oj).

[^ntr26-L_202602280EN.000101-E0026]: Council Decision 2011/350/EU of 7 March 2011 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Protocol between the European Union, the European Community, the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein on the accession of the Principality of Liechtenstein to the Agreement between the European Union, the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the Swiss Confederation’s association with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis, relating to the abolition of checks at internal borders and movement of persons (OJ L 160, 18.6.2011, p. 19, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2011/350/oj).

[^ntr27-L_202602280EN.000101-E0027]: Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) (OJ L 77, 23.3.2016, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/399/oj).

[^ntr28-L_202602280EN.000101-E0028]: Council Decision 2004/573/EC of 29 April 2004 on the organisation of joint flights for removals from the territory of two or more Member States, of third-country nationals who are subjects of individual removal orders (OJ L 261, 6.8.2004, p. 28, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2004/573/oj).

[^ntr29-L_202602280EN.000101-E0029]: Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the establishment, operation and use of the Schengen Information System (SIS) in the field of border checks, and amending the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement, and amending and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1987/2006 (OJ L 312, 7.12.2018, p. 14, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/1861/oj).

[^ntr30-L_202602280EN.000101-E0030]: Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States – Statements made by certain Member States on the adoption of the Framework Decision (OJ L 190, 18.7.2002, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_framw/2002/584/oj).

[^ntr31-L_202602280EN.000101-E0031]: Directive (EU) 2017/541 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2017 on combating terrorism and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA and amending Council Decision 2005/671/JHA (OJ L 88, 31.3.2017, p. 6, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2017/541/oj).

[^ntr32-L_202602280EN.000101-E0032]: Directive (EU) 2024/1346 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (OJ L, 2024/1346, 22.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1346/oj).

[^ntr33-L_202602280EN.000101-E0033]: Regulation (EU) 2024/1358 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 on the establishment of ‘Eurodac’ for the comparison of biometric data in order to effectively apply Regulations (EU) 2024/1351 and (EU) 2024/1350 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Directive 2001/55/EC and to identify illegally staying third-country nationals and stateless persons and on requests for the comparison with Eurodac data by Member States’ law enforcement authorities and Europol for law enforcement purposes, amending Regulations (EU) 2018/1240 and (EU) 2019/818 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Regulation (EU) No 603/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L, 2024/1358, 22.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1358/oj).

[^ntr34-L_202602280EN.000101-E0034]: Regulation (EU) 2016/1953 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on the establishment of a European travel document for the return of illegally staying third-country nationals, and repealing the Council Recommendation of 30 November 1994 (OJ L 311, 17.11.2016, p. 13, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/1953/oj).

[^ntr35-L_202602280EN.000101-E0035]: Regulation (EU) 2019/818 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 on establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of police and judicial cooperation, asylum and migration and amending Regulations (EU) 2018/1726, (EU) 2018/1862 and (EU) 2019/816 (OJ L 135, 22.5.2019, p. 85, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/818/oj).

[^ntr36-L_202602280EN.000101-E0036]: Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 September 2018 establishing a European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) and amending Regulations (EU) No 1077/2011, (EU) No 515/2014, (EU) 2016/399, (EU) 2016/1624 and (EU) 2017/2226 (OJ L 236, 19.9.2018, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/1240/oj).

[^ntr37-L_202602280EN.000101-E0037]: Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement (OJ L 303, 28.11.2018, p. 39, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/1806/oj).

ANNEX

Correlation table

Directive 2001/40/EC Decision 2004/191/EC Directive 2008/115/EC This Regulation
Article 1 Article 1
Article 2 Article 2
Article 3, point 1 Article 3, point (1)
Article 3, point 2 Article 3, point (2)
Article 3, point 3 Article 3, points (3) and (5)
Article 3, point 4 Article 3, point (4)
Article 3, point 5 Article 3, point (7)
Article 3, point 6 Article 3, point (10)
Article 3, point 7 Article 19
Article 3, point 8 Article 3, point (8)
Article 3, point 9 —
Articles 4(1) to (3) —
Article 4(4) Article 2(7)
Article 5 Article 4 and Article 15
Article 6(1) Article 5(1), (9) and (10)
Article 6(2) Article 6(2) and (3)
Article 6(3) Article 6(1), point (b)
Article 6(4) —
Article 6(5) —
Article 6(6) Article 5(12)
Article 7(1) Article 5(2) and (3)
Article 7(2) Article 5(4)
Article 7(3) Article 20 and Article 23
Article 7(4) Article 5(2), point (b) and Article 5(5)
Article 8(1) to (5) Article 10
Article 8(6) Article 12
Article 9 Article 11(1) to (5) and (7)
Article 10 Article 17
Article 11 Article 8 and Article 9
Article 12 Article 5(7), (8) and (11) and Article 8(3)
Article 13(1) and (2) Article 26, Article 27 and Article 28
Article 13(3) and (4) Article 25
Article 14(1) Article 11(6)
Article 14(2) Article 11(4)
Article 15(1) Article 29(1), (2) and (3), points (a) and (b)
Article 15(2) Article 29(4), Article 30(2) and Article 31(3)
Article 15(3) Article 31(1) and (2)
Article 15(4) Article 30(2)
Article 15(5) Article 30(1) and (3), first sentence
Article 15(6) Article 30(3), first subparagraph, second sentence and Article 30(3), second subparagraph
Article 16 Article 32
Article 17 Article 33
Article 18 Article 45
Articles 1 to 6 — Article 7(1) to (8)
Articles 1 to 3 — —

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/2280/oj

ISSN 1977-0677 (electronic edition)

Reading this document does not replace reading the official text published in the Official Journal of the European Union. We assume no responsibility for any inaccuracies arising from the conversion of the original to this format.

This text is published under EUR-Lex's own terms of reuse, not a Legalize or public-domain licence. EUR-Lex
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
© European Union, https://eur-lex.europa.eu — Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the European Union). Reused under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Only EU legislation published in the printed Official Journal of the European Union is deemed authentic; consolidated texts are reproduced here for documentation purposes and have been reformatted to Markdown.