UK - Court of Appeal, R (AR (Iran) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, [2013] EWCA Civ 778

The Court reaffirmed that Dublin II does not give rise to rights for individuals; it regulates responsibility between states for dealing substantively with asylum claims, applying the case of R(MK Iran) [2010] EWCA Civ 115.

The applicant sought to argue, among other things, that Article 25.1 of the Procedures Directive did not apply in this case because the failure of the UK to examine the asylum claim had not been ‘in accordance’ with Dublin II (as he had returned to his home country after leaving Belgium, and so Dublin II was technically not applicable, by Article 16.3). The Court rejected this argument for four different reasons, emphasising that Dublin II does not give rise to any individual rights inhering in the applicant and that this “fatally undermined” the applicant’s argument: “The whole point of the Dublin II jurisprudence is that while member states may complain of defects in procedure the asylum seeker may not do so” (para. 31)

The Court also reiterated that Dublin II envisaged swift decision-making, with trust placed in other member states. The appellant was not in any way adversely affected by being returned to Belgium.