On 14 May, the EU adopted a set of ten rules that together make up the new Pact on Migration and Asylum. The Federal Council intends to adopt five of these legislative acts in full or in part, as they are binding on Switzerland. The acts mainly concern further developments of the Schengen/Dublin agreements, which determine which Dublin state is responsible for examining an asylum application.

The new Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management will replace the current Dublin III Regulation. It determines which Dublin state is responsible for examining an asylum application and sets out measures to prevent irregular secondary migration within the Schengen area. It also introduces a new solidarity mechanism to reduce the burden on countries faced with a very high number of asylum applications. While Switzerland is not legally required to participate in the solidarity mechanism, it may participate on a voluntary and selective basis.

The new Crisis and Force Majeure Regulation will make it possible to derogate from the provisions of the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation and, for example, provide for longer Dublin procedures.

The new Return Border Procedure Regulation introduces new procedures for the removal of asylum seekers whose applications have been examined and rejected at the Schengen external borders. As Switzerland is not on the EU's external border, it will adopt this regulation without applying it.

The current Eurodac Regulation will be revised to ensure interoperability with other IT systems being used in Europe. In addition, new categories of persons will be included and facial images and fingerprints collected for everyone over the age of six.

Finally, the new Screening Regulation introduces a procedure for the rapid screening of persons from third countries who enter the Schengen area without fulfilling the entry requirements. The aim is to identify them, carry out security checks, and record any health or other problems. For this purpose, biometric data will be collected and stored in the Eurodac database.

Some of these provisions are a further development of the Schengen/Dublin acquis and therefore require amendments to Swiss law. These changes concern the following areas in particular: screening procedures at the Schengen external borders and on Swiss territory, existing and new access rights to databases related to migration, data transmission and data protection, the provisions on Dublin detention, the appeal procedure, and the obligation to cooperate in the framework of the Dublin procedure.

For the complete documentation see the pages in German, French or Italian.

Further information:

EU Pact on Migration and Asylum

Address for enquiries:

SEM Communications, medien@sem.admin.ch

Publisher:

The Federal Council
Federal Department of Justice and Police