The Council held a discussion on the proposal for a
regulation establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the
MemberState responsible for
examining an asylum application. The debate focused on the hierarchy of
criteria for determining the Member State responsible for examining the
application of an asylum seeker who had irregularly crossed the border
into a Member State, on the cases where this asylum seeker had been
previously living for a certain period in another Member State, and on the
difficulties linked to different time limits set out by the regulation
with regard to the determination of the competent Member State or the
transfer of an asylum seeker to this Member State. Following the
discussion, the Council charged the Permanent Representatives Committee
with continuing the work to allow agreement to be reached at the next JHA
Council on 28/29 November 2002.