DUBLIN CONVENTION (in parts)

DUBLIN CONVENTION PROVISIONS

This annex contains some provisions of the Convention determining the State responsible for examining applications for asylum lodged in one of the Member States of the European Communities, (otherwise known as the 'Dublin Convention'). Articles 4-9, which determine the order in which States are responsible for examining asylum requests, are reproduced below.

ARTICLE 4

Where the applicant for asylum has a member of his family who has been recognized as having refugee status within the meaning of the Geneva Convention, as amended by the New York Protocol, in a Member State and is legally resident there, that State shall be responsible for examining the application, provided that the persons concerned so desire.

The family member in question may not be other than the spouse of the applicant for asylum

his or her unmarried child who is a minor of under eighteen years

, or

his or her father or mother where the applicant for asylum is himself or herself an unmarried child who is a minor of under eighteen years.

ARTICLE 5 1.

Where the applicant for asylum is in possession of a valid residence permit, the Member State which issued the perinit shall be responsible for examining the application for asylum.

2. Where the applicant for asylum is in possession of a valid visa"the Member State which issued the visa shall be responsible for examining the application for asylum, except in the following situations:

(a) if the visa was issued on the written authorization of another Member State, that State shall be responsible for examining the application for asylum. Where a Member State first consults the central authority of another Member State, inter alia for security reasons, the agreement of the latter shall not constitute written authorization within the meaning of this provision;

(b) where the applicant for asylum is in possession of a Transit visa and lodges his apphcation in another Member State in which he is not subject to a visa requirement, that'State shall be responsible for examining the apphcation for asylum;

(c) where the applicant for asylum is in possession of a Transit visa and lodges his application in the State which issued him or her with the visa and which has received written confirmation from the diplomatic or consular authorities of the Member State of destination that the alien for whom the visa requirement was waived fulfüled the conditions for entry into that State, the latter shall be responsible for examining the application for asylum.

3. Where the applicant for asylum is in possession of more than one vahd residence perrnit or visa issued by different Member States, the responsibility for exan-üning the apphcation for asylum shall be assumed by the Member States in the following order:

(a) the State which issued the residence permit conferring the right to the longest period of residency or, where the periods of vahdity of all the perrrüts are identical, the State which issued the residence permit having the latest expiry date;

(b) the State which issued the visa having the latest expiry date where the various visas are of the same type;

(c) where visas are of different kinds, the State which issued the visa having the longest period of validity, or where the periods of vahdity are identical, the State which issued the visa having the latest expiry date. This provision shall not apply where the applicant is in possession of one or more Transit visas, issued on presentation of an entry visa for another Member State. In that case, that Member State shall be responsible.

4. Where the applicant for asylum is in possession only of one or more residence permits which have expired less than two years previously or one or more visas which have expired less than six months previously and enabled him or her actually to enter the territory of a Member State, the provisions of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this Article shall apply for such time as the ahen has not left the territory of the Member States.

Where the applicant for asylum is in possession of one or more residence permits which have expired more than two years previously or one or more visas which have expired more than six months previously and enabled him or her to enter the territory of a Member State and where an ahen has not left Community territory, the Member State in which the apphcation is lodged shall be responsible.

ARTICLE 6

When it can be proved than an applicant for asylum has irregularly crossed the border into a Member State by land, sea or air, having come from a non-member State of European Communities, the Member State thus entered shall be responsible for examining the application for asylum.

That State shall cease to be responsible, however, if it is proved that the applicant has been living in the Member State where the application for asylum was made at least six months before making his application for asylum. In that case it is the latter Member State which is responsible for exan-üning the application for asylum.

ARTICLE 7 1. The responsibility for examining an application for asylum shall be incumbent upon the Member State responsible for controlling the entry of the alien into the territory of the Member States, except where, after legally entering a Member State in which the need for him or her to have a visa is waived, the alien lodges his or her application for asylum in another Member State in which the need for him or her to have a visa for entry into the territory is also waived. In tlüs case, the latter State shall be responsible for examining the application for asylum.

2. Pending the entry into force of an agreement between Member States on arrangements for crossing external borders, the Member State which authorizes Transit without a visa through the Transit zone of its airports shall not be regarded as responsible for control on entry, in respect of travellers who do not leave the Transit zone.

3. Where the application for asylum is made in Transit in an airport of a Member State, that State shall be responsible for examination.

ARTICLE 8 Where no Member State responsible for examining the application for asylum can be designated on the basis of the other criteria hsted in this Convention, the first Member State with which the application for asylum is lodged shall be responsible for examining it.

ARTICLE 9 Any Member State, even when it is not responsible under the criteria laid out in this Convention may, for humanitarian reasons based in particular on family or cultural grounds, examine an application for asylum at the request of another Member State, provided that the applicant so desires.

If the Member State thus approached accedes to the request, responsibility for examiiüng the application shall be transferred to it.