Switzerland is bound by the Dublin III Regulation and applies its provisions directly.

Reference to the Dublin III Regulation is found in the following national legislative acts:

• 26/06/1998: Asylum Act, Loi sur l'asile, 358/1999
• 11/08/1999: Asylum Ordinance No 1 on procedural aspects, Ordonnance 1 sur l’asile relative à la procédure, 359/1999
   

Entity responsible for the Dublin procedure (the application of the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible): Dublin Office and Sections | Dublin Office und Sektionen | Bureau et sections de Dublin | Ufficio e sezioni di Dublino

Place in the institutional framework:

The Dublin Office has decentralised sections under the Asylum Directorate which is part of the main migration authority. The State Secretariat for Migration has a dedicated division, Dublin, Stay and Resettlement, under which there are two Dublin sections (Dublin Office 1 and Dublin Office 2, responsible for the Policy, incoming requests and part of the outgoing. There are also decentralised Dublin sections in 6 federal asylum and reception centres are responsible for outgoing procedures.

Competencies of the entity:

Stakeholders involved in the procedure:

Applicants receive an information leaflet about the Dublin procedure after filing the application at the start of the preparatory phase, when arriving to the assigned federal asylum centre with processing facilities.

Applicants are entitled to free legal assistance in the Dublin procedure after lodging their application for international protection. A legal representative is assigned to each applicant from the start of the preparatory phase till the end of the procedures unless explicitly declined by the applicant. The legal representative has to inform the applicant of the prospects of his application and shall end its role if s/he assesses that an appeal has no prospects of success. The applicant must be informed as soon as possible after notification of the decision to reject asylum. Legal representation shall last, under the accelerated and the Dublin procedure, until a legally binding decision is taken, or until a decision is taken about carrying out an extended procedure.

Organisation of the interview: The SEM carries out the Dublin personal interview during the preparatory phase in a federal asylum centre with processing facilities. The Asylum Act, Article 26(3) clarifies that the SEM may ask questions related to the applicant's identity, travel route and briefly about the reasons for leaving the country of origin.

When the SEM presumes after this interview that another Dublin State is responsible for the asylum procedure, the applicant has the right to be heard again concerning the transfer to that Dublin State. This allows the applicant to make a statement and present the reasons against the transfer, either in written or orally. When a Eurodac hit is found or other evidence is available before the interview, the right to be heard is granted during the interview itself.

The personal interview and the right to be heard cannot be omitted as a main rule. It does not take place only when the applicant absconds.

The minutes of the interview and the applicant's statements in the framework of the right to be heard are available in a written form.

Persons present during interview: Information is currently not available

The SEM takes a decision on not examining the merits of the case and notifies the decision to the applicant, after the responsible Dublin state accepts responsibility for the applicant.

When the SEM concludes after the hearing that Switzerland is the responsible state, it continues the asylum procedure accordingly (in an accelerated or extended manner).

The central and regional (decentralised) Dublin sections of the SEM are in charge of examining the responsibility, carrying out all formalities related to the take charge or take back requests and managing the deadlines of the procedure. The cantonal authorities are responsible for implementing the transfer: they reserve the necessary flights in cooperation with swissREPAT (a special decentralised unit of SEM at the airports in Zurich and Geneva), decide whether the person concerned can travel alone without any assistance or monitoring or whether any form or control or accompanying is  necessary. The transfer takes place in general under some kind of control: the authorities reserve the flight and accompany the person until boarding.

SwissREPAT informs the relevant Dublin section about the fact that a flight was reserved. The relevant Dublin section delivers the laissez-passer and informs the responsible Dublin State about the reservation. There is usually at least three days between the notification and the implementation of the transfer. This period also applies to transfers along the land border, when the notification about the transfer is delivered at the border post.

The law does not foresee any mechanism requiring authorities to systematically identify vulnerable persons for the purposes of the Dublin procedure. Applicants are obliged to state any known health issues during the preparatory phase, which might be of relevance for the procedure in general (Asylum Act, Article 26a). 

Assessment of the best interests of the child: Information is currently not available

Legal guardian: The AO1, Article 7(3), clarifies that the tasks of the person of confidence, who is also the legal representative of the child, includes all relevant support during the Dublin procedure. 

Detection of potential family reunification cases: The competent central and regional (decentralised) Dublin sections of the SEM are responsible for the detection of potential family reunification cases and family tracing in the framework of their overall task for examining responsibility.