COUNCIL OF

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Brussels, 28 February 2008 7059/08 (Presse 58)

Signature of a protocol on Denmark's participation in the Dublin/Eurodac agreement with Switzerland and Liechtenstein

The signature of the Protocol between the European Community, Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation concerning the criteria and mechanisms for establishing the State responsible for examining a request for asylum lodged in a Member State or in Switzerland (Denmark's participation in the Agreement on Dublin/Eurodac acquis with the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein) took place in Brussels, today (16468/06 ).

On 1 March 2008, the Agreement on the accession of the Swiss Confederation to the Dublin/Eurodac acquis will enter into force. The Protocol on the accession of Liechtenstein to the Dublin/Eurodac Agreement with the Swiss Confederation was also signed today.

P R E S S

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In principle and in accordance with the Protocol on the position of Denmark annexed to the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, Denmark does not participate in the Regulation establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national (“the Dublin Regulation”), nor in the Regulation concerning the establishment of “Eurodac” for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of the Dublin Convention (“the Eurodac Regulation”). However, on 1 April 2006 a special Agreement entered into force between the European Community and the Kingdom of Denmark on the latter's special position and on the extension of these two Regulations to it. In the same sense, a special Protocol entered into force on 21 February 2006, regulating the relations between Denmark, of the one part, and Norway and Iceland, of the other part, on the same issue.

The Dublin/Eurodac Agreement with the Swiss Confederation explicitly provides for the possibility that Denmark may ask to participate in it. In this event, the Agreement provides that the contracting parties, with the consent of Denmark, set out the conditions for Denmark's participation in a Protocol to the Agreement. In 2004, the Kingdom of Denmark requested to participate in the Dublin/Eurodac Agreement with the Swiss Confederation, to which the Principality of Liechtenstein has also acceded 1.

This Protocol was signed in the assumption that the Principality of Liechtenstein will become a contracting party after the conclusion of the Protocol on its accession to the Dublin/Eurodac Agreement with the Swiss Confederation.

With this Protocol, the Dublin and Eurodac Regulations and their implementing rules become applicable to the relations between Denmark on the one hand, and the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein on the other. The Protocol also renders future amendments or new implementing measures applicable to these relations. The Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein are granted the right to present written pleadings or observations to the European Court of Justice in case a court in Denmark applies to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of a provision of the Agreement between the European Community and Denmark. In addition, this Protocol provides for a conciliation mechanism in the event of disagreement between Denmark of the one part, and the Swiss Confederation or the Principality of Liechtenstein of the other part, on its interpretation or application.

1 The Protocols on the accession of the Principality of Liechtenstein to the Schengen and to the Dublin/Eurodac Agreements with the Swiss Confederation were also signed today.

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