The Member State of first entry into the European Union will, in principle, retain responsibility for processing a migrant’s asylum application, said the Court of Justice of the European Union in a ruling handed down on Thursday 5 March (case C-458/24).
At the end of 2022, Italy informed the other Member States that, temporarily and subject to exceptions, it would no longer accept transfers of asylum seekers under the Dublin III Regulation (604/2013) and that it would refuse to take back asylum seekers under its responsibility, even though Italy was the country of first entry into the EU for these people.
Referred to by a German court, the CJEU ruled that the Member State designated as being the responsible State under the Dublin III Regulation cannot discharge its responsibilities by simply making a unilateral announcement. It added that such a possibility could actually jeopardise the smooth running of the European system for managing migratory flows.
The Member State in question therefore remains, in the first instance, the State responsible for an asylum application. This is not the case where systemic failures give rise to a risk of inhuman or degrading treatment (cases C-185/24 and C-189/24 - see EUROPE 13549/31).
However, according to the European Court of Justice, where the Member State responsible has accepted a take-charge or a take-back request in relation to an asylum seeker or, as in this case, is deemed to have accepted the request by failing to respond to it, the transfer must take place within a maximum period of six months.
Nevertheless, according to the Court, if the transfer is not carried out within the time limit, the responsible Member State is relieved of its obligation to take charge or to take back the person concerned and the responsibility for processing the asylum application falls to the country where the asylum seeker is.
Such a transfer of responsibility also occurs when the person has not been successfully handed over because the State initially responsible for the asylum procedure has unilaterally suspended the procedures for taking back the person. This automaticity guarantees that asylum seekers retain the effectiveness of their fundamental right to apply for asylum, the Court emphasised.
It also pointed out that the newly responsible Member State and the European Commission can bring an action for failure to fulfil obligations before the CJEU against the country who was initially responsible.
Read the judgment of the Court of Justice: https://aeur.eu/f/l2c (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)