Brussels, 27/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - A member state in receipt of an application for asylum must provide minimum conditions for the reception of the asylum seeker, even if it is necessary to call upon another member state which it considers is responsible for examining the application. In principle, this obligation applies from when the asylum application is lodged until the actual transfer of the asylum seeker to the member state responsible.
This, in essence, was the ruling given on Thursday 27 September by the EU Court of Justice in response to a request from the French Conseil d'Etat (Council of State), which called upon it to interpret on these points Directive 2003/9/EC fixing the minimum conditions for reception of asylum seekers (accommodation, food and clothing, provided in kind or as financial allowances) and Regulation 343/2003 establishing the criteria and the mechanisms for determining the member state responsible for examining the application for asylum presented by a third country national in one of the EU member states. In its ruling, the Court specifies that the obligation upon the member state to which a request for asylum has been made to grant minimum conditions of reception begins when the applicants lodge their applications for asylum, even if that State is not the one responsible for examining the request according to the criteria established by the Dublin II regulation. Minimum hosting conditions must be granted not only to asylum seekers on the territory of the member state responsible but also to those waiting for it to be determined which member state is responsible. Accordingly, minimum reception conditions must be granted not only to asylum seekers present it the territory of the responsible member state but also to those who remain pending the determination of the responsible member state, a procedure that can last a number of months. This obligation only, however, concerns asylum seekers who are authorised to remain on the territory of the member state concerned as asylum seekers and the minimum reception conditions may be limited or withdrawn from the applicant in situations, listed in the directive, where the asylum seeker does not comply with the reception rules laid down by the member state concerned (e.g. not turning up at personal interviews for examination of his/her claim). (FG/transl.jl)