Development

In 2002, the National Contact Point Austria was assigned to IOM Vienna by the Ministry of the Interior.

After the publication of a feasibility study in 1996 which elaborated possibilities of regular exchange of information concerning migration and asylum, the Laeken European Council invited the European Commission in December 2001 to establish a system in order to fulfil this purpose. Thus, the European Commission decided on the implementation of a network consisting of National Contact Points which started with a pilot phase from 2003 to 2006.

After a transitional period in 2007, the Council Decision 2008/381/EC was adopted in May 2008, providing the legal basis for the European Migration Network until the end of 2013. The Council Decision obliges all Member States to set up 27 National Contact Points with the exception of Denmark, Ireland and UK. However, Ireland and UK already participated in the pilot phase; Denmark holds observer status.