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EU: Dublin Convention still waiting

01 July 1996

The Dublin Convention, signed in June 1990, is still awaiting completion of ratification by the Netherlands and Ireland. The Convention will introduce the one-stop rule for immigrants and asylum-seekers (the decision of one EU state holding for all 15 states). Although the ratification of the Convention was passed by the Dutch Second Chamber on 30 January 1996 it still has to be agreed by the Senate (the First Chamber). An initial demand that the European Court of Justice should be written into the Convention - which would have required all other EU states to ratify an additional Protocol - has been replaced by a proposal to add a Declaration. This Declaration, which is backed by the government, would state that decisions of the Executive Committee to be set up under the Convention would not be binding on Dutch courts. Despite this new agreement it is not expected to be agreed until late autumn. In Ireland the Asylum Bill - which recognises the provisions of the Dublin Convention - became law on 26 June. But a series of regulations - covering an appeals body, conditions of detention, and the mechanism for applying the Dublin Convention - now have to be drawn up and agreed to put the new legislation into practice. Migration Newssheet, August 1996.