Statelessness In The European Union 57 the EU countries having adopted a specific determination procedure, differences on the recognition of statelessness are patent. Some EU Member States use a recognition process limited to de jure stateless persons as defined in Article 1 of the 1954 Convention (e.g. France, Hungary and the United Kingdom). On the contrary, the Italian judiciary recognizes a wider concept of statelessness. Italy has ratified the 1954 Convention.25 Nevertheless, the Italian procedural regulation on statelessness does not refer to the Convention definition of Article 1 and it does not even provide a definition of statelessness.26 In absence of a definition included in this regulation, the majority of the Italian judges, while ruling in procedures for statelessness determination, considered statelessness in a broader sense, including a non-effective nationality. In France, a non-effective nationality does not allow recognition of the stateless status.27 The French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons28 and the French judges focus on a concept of ‘national’ that reflects a formal link between the individual and a particular State. Consequently, they only recognize a person to be stateless if this person has definitively lost his/ her nationality.29 Hungary legislation related to statelessness determination procedure follows, word by word, the definition of statelessness contained in Article 1 of the 1954 Convention.30 The recognition of statelessness in Hungary is thus limited to de jure stateless persons.31 Similarly, the United Kingdom Immigration Rules establish that, for the purpose of the recognition of statelessness, a stateless person is a person who ‘satisfies the requirements of Article 1(1) of the 1954 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, as a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law’.32 Asylum Aid 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Law n. 306/1962. D.P.R. 572/1993, Art. 17. See Catherine-Amélie Chassin, ‘Panorama du droit français de l’apatridie’ (2003) RFDA 327. The OFPRA (Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides) is the French authority in charge of the recognition of the stateless status. The OFPRA’s negative decision can be appealed before administrative courts. See, for instance, Cour administrative d’Appel de Paris 25 octobre 2012 B., Inédit au Recueil Lebon, Conseil d’État 20 mars 2000 Haque, req. 190036, Inédit, Tribunal administratif de Paris, 13 décembre 1995, Haque, Rec. CRR 1996, p. 136. Act No II of 2007 on the Entry and Stay of Third Country Nationals, Art. 2 lit (b). Tamás Molnár, ‘Statelessness Determination procedure in Hungary’ (2013) 5/6 Asiel&Migrantenrecht 273. Immigration Rules, Art. 401. tilburg law review 19 (2014) 52-63