On 19 July, the Dublin III Regulation replaced the previous Dublin Regulation and the Dublin II Regulation. The Dublin III Regulation is the legal code for establishing the criteria and mechanism for determining the State’s responsibility for examining asylum applications by third country nationals. The Regulation attempts to provide the European Union with a Common European Asylum System.
The earlier Dublin II Regulation has been criticised. European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) and the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) both published reports in the past year that outlined a number of key areas in which the Regulation was failing. The reports identified that the Dublin II Regulation was applied in vastly different ways throughout Member States. There were no common standards of information provision and reception conditions. Most significantly, the reports identified that as a result of the implementation of the Regulation in some Member States, families were torn apart.
The new Regulations seek to clarify the rules and responsibilities of Member States. It is anticipated that there will be enhanced safeguards for asylum seekers. The new provisions include:
· An appeals process for a transfer decision;
· Permission to remain in a Member State while an appeal is taking place;
· Right to information;
· Right to a personal interview; and
· An obligation on the European Commission to produce a common information leaflet.
Click here to read a joint statement from JRS and ECRE.
Bulletin readers may recall a report compiled by ECRE and launched in February 2013. The report, The Dublin II Regulation: Lives on Hold assessed how the regulation is applied by Member States and said that the system continued to fail both asylum seekers and Member States. In response to the new Regulation, ECRE and JRS say that the success of the Dublin III Regulation “depends on how ... [it] is applied at a national level... Improvements on paper will not lead to improvements in practice. Asylum seekers must have access to fair asylum procedures and decent reception conditions wherever they are in Europe.”
The Common European Asylum System was one of the key priorities of the Irish Presidency of the European Union. In June the final elements of the system were agreed by the European Parliament.
Click here to read The Dublin II Regulation: Lives on Hold