procedures should satisfy certain basic requirements. These basic require- ments, which reflect the special situation of the applicant for refugee status, to which reference has been made above, and which would ensure that the applicant is provided with certain essential guarantees, are the following:
(i) The competent official (e.g., immigration officer or border police officer) to whom the applicant addresses himself at the border or in the territory of a Contracting State should have clear instructions for dealing with cases which might come within the purview of the relevant international instruments. He should be required to act in accordance with the principle of non-refoulement and to refer such cases to a higher authority.
(ii) The applicant should receive the necessary guidance as to the procedure to be followed.
(iii) There should be a clearly identified authority-wherever possible a single central authority-with responsibility for examining requests for refugee status and taking a decision in the first instance.
(iv) The applicant should be given the necessary facilities, including the services of a competent interpreter, for submitting his case to the authorities concerned. Applicants should also be given the opportunity, of which they should be duly informed, to contact a representative of UNHCR.
(v) If the applicant is recognized as a refugee, he should be informed accord- ingly and issued with documentation certifying his refugee status.
(vi) If the applicant is not recognized, he should be given a reasonable time to appeal for a formal reconsideration of the decision, either to the same or to a different authority, whether administrative or judicial, according to the prevailing system.
(vii) The applicant should be permitted to remain in the country pending a decision on his initial request by the competent authority referred to in para- graph (iii) above, unless it has been established by that authority that his request is clearly abusive. He should also be permitted to remain in the country while an appeal to a higher administrative authority or to the courts is pending. 27
193. The Executive Committee also expressed the hope that all States parties to the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol that had not yet done so would take appropriate steps to establish such procedures in the near future and give favourable consideration to UNHCR participation in such procedures in appropriate form.
194. Determination of refugee status, which is closely related to questions of asylum and admission, is of concern to the High Commissioner in the exercise of his function to provide international protection for refugees. In a number of countries, the Office of the High Commissioner participates in various forms, in procedures for the determination of refugee status. Such participation is based on Article 35 of the 1951 Convention and the cor- responding Article II of the 1967 Protocol, which provide for co-operation by the Contracting States with the High Commissioner's Office.
27 Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-second Session, Supplement No. 12 (A/32/12/Add.1), paragraph 53 (6) (e).
195. The relevant fac the first place by the charged with determini any evidence and the
196. It is a general 1 person submitting a cl to support his statem which an applicant ca exception rather than secution will have arri
even without personal principle rests on the relevant facts is share in some cases, it may posal to produce the n such independent rese there may also be sta cases, if the applicant' are good reasons to th
197. The requiremen in view of the difficult an applicant for refug lack of evidence does must necessarily be acc account put forward b
198.
A person who, orities in his own coun
He may therefore be account of his case.
199. While an initial cant's story to light, apparent inconsistenc interview, and to find cealment of material reason for refusal of to evaluate such stater
200. An examination outside the scope of tl
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