The Supreme Administrative Court upheld ReLex appeal, stating that the Migration Department even in possession of an agreement to accept Dublin transfer must highlight the exact point of the Regulation, which determines the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection.
The applicant, Belarusian citizen, was forced to flee his country fearing politically motivated state persecution due to expressed criticism and was able to enter Lithuania in 2020 with a humanitarian visa. Since then, the applicant has requested asylum in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and eventually, in Lithuania. Instead of investigating the applicant’s request, Migration Department under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania requested other EU member states to take over the asylum procedure. Migration Department did not provide any reasoning for such a decision, other than the fact that the applicant had filled an asylum application in those member states. Curiously the Netherlands accepted Migration Department’s request to take charge of the applicant.
The Applicant based his complain on CJEU decision in C‑646/16, which clearly outlined that Articles 12-14 of Dublin III Regulation set a general rule, that the responsibility to examine asylum applications falls to the Member State where the applicant first entered or stayed in upon entering the territory of the Member States. Moreover, when the applicant presented his first asylum application in 2022, he was in possession of a valid residence permit in Lithuania.
The Regional Administrative Court rejected the complaint on mere fact that the Netherlands became the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection once they accepted to take charge of the applicant. When overturning this decision Supreme Administrative Court affirmed that another Member State’s acceptance to take charge of an applicant cannot in any way influence the determination of the responsible Member State under Dublin III Regulation.
Dublin procedures remain a major source of asylum litigation in Europe before both domestic and European courts. From July 2026 onwards the Dublin Regulation will be repealed and replaced by the Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management (RAMM) which was adopted in May 2024 as part of the EU Pact on Asylum and Migration. Analysis of the RAMM suggests that the changes will not be significant as the new rules on allocation of responsibility are very similar to the current Dublin system and, as such, the current shortcomings will remain.
ReLex
