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Dublin decisions normally in a few months

In Finland, the examination of each asylum application begins by determining which state is responsible under the EU Community Regulation on Transfer of Responsibility (the Dublin Regulation) adopted by the EU Member States* together with Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. The premise followed by Finland and the other States adopting the Regulation is that an application for international protection should be examined by a single Member State.

If the asylum applicant arrives in Finland through another State adopting the Dublin Regulation, or initially seeks asylum from a ‘Dublin State’ other than Finland, his or her application will not normally be processed in Finland. The Dublin decision will then be applied, and he/she will be transferred to the responsible State.

The processing time is clearly faster in these ‘Dublin’ cases than in cases where the normal procedure is applied. The cases to be decided in May–June 2010 concern applications submitted at the beginning of 2010.

* In addition to Finland, the Member States of the European Union (EU) are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

28.5.2010

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