Chapter IX, Article 42 · Regulation (EU) 2026/2280

Contents

Article 42Cooperation between Member States#

1.Cooperation and assistance between competent authorities designated in accordance with Article 41 shall as a general rule take place for the purpose of:

(a)allowing transit through their territory to assist that a return decision of another Member State can be complied with or travel documents obtained;

(b)providing logistical or other material or in-kind assistance in connection to transit through their territory pursuant to point (a);

(c)facilitating the transfer referred to in Article 6(1), point (b);

(d)supporting the departure of a third-country national to the Member State in which he or she has a right to stay in accordance with Article 6(3).

2.Cooperation and assistance between competent authorities designated in accordance with Article 41 may take place, including for the purpose of:

(a)leading or supporting the policy dialogue and exchanges with the authorities of third countries for the purpose of facilitating readmission;

(b)contacting the competent authorities of third countries for the purpose of verifying the identity of third-country nationals and obtaining a valid travel document;

(c)organising, on behalf of the requesting Member State, the practical arrangement for the enforcement of return;

(d)providing logistical or other material or in-kind assistance.

Defined terms · 11

Show every defined term

absconding
means the action by which a third-country national does not remain available to the competent administrative or judicial authorities;
country of return
means one of the following:
decision ordering removal
means an administrative or judicial act or decision stating or declaring that a third-country national can be removed to one or more countries of return;
entry ban
means an administrative or judicial act or decision prohibiting the entry into and stay on the territory of the Member States of a third-country national;
illegal stay
means the presence, on the territory of a Member State, of a third-country national who does not fulfil, or who no longer fulfils, the entry conditions for third-country nationals as set out in Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399, or the conditions for stay or residence in that Member State, or, in the case of a Member State not bound by that Regulation, the conditions for entry, stay or residence laid down in equivalent national law;
removal
means the enforcement of a return decision or a decision ordering removal by the competent authorities through physical transportation from the Member States to a country of return;
return
means the actions by which an illegally staying third-country national:
return decision
means an administrative or judicial act or decision, stating or declaring the stay of a third-country national to be illegal and stating or imposing an obligation for that third-country national to leave the territory of the Member States;
return operation
means an operation organised or coordinated by a competent authority or supported by Frontex by which third-country nationals are returned from one or more Member States.
third-country national
means any person who is not a citizen of the Union within the meaning of Article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and who is not a person enjoying the right of free movement under Union law, as defined in Article 2, point (5), of Regulation (EU) 2016/399;
voluntary return
means the departure from the territory of the Member States on his or her own, with or without assistance, and without resorting to removal, of an illegally staying third-country national complying with the obligation to leave within or after the expiry of the departure period set out in the return decision;