4.2.4. Decisions on outgoing Dublin requests
![icon for outgoing dublin requests](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_column/public/2022-06/ar2022-s424-dublin-decisions-outgoing.png?itok=2La20jg2)
Decisions on outgoing Dublin requests include decisions in response to take back requests (under Articles 18(1b-d) and 20(5) of the Dublin III Regulation) and take charge requests (under Articles 8-16 and 17(2)), but they exclude decisions taken under the sovereignty clause (Article 17(1)). Thus, the data on outgoing Dublin requests cover all persons included in a decision received by the reporting country in response to a request to have a partner country take responsibility for the asylum application. This does not mean that the transfer was necessarily carried out, but it does mean that the partner Member State replied to the request, whether it was accepted or rejected, within the time limit or there was an implicit acceptance due to the expiration of the time limit.
In 2022, 163,000 decisions were issued in response to outgoing Dublin requests,
Overall, the annual ratio of decisions received on Dublin requests to asylum applications lodged was 16%, on par with 2021. Although some decisions on Dublin requests concerned family reunion cases, the stable ratio of decisions to applications suggests that in 2022 an increased number of asylum seekers moved from the first country of arrival to another to lodge a new application (referred to as secondary movements), impacting asylum caseloads overall.
At the country level, Germany and France continued to receive the most decisions in response to their requests (see the left side of Figure 7), jointly accounting for over three-fifths of the EU+ total. Germany received almost two-thirds more responses than in 2021, whereas responses received by France rose by around one-seventh. Most other countries received more responses to Dublin requests in 2022, with the most notable relative increases in Spain, Norway, Cyprus, Austria, Portugal and Czechia (in descending order).
As in previous years, Italy issued the most decisions overall on Dublin requests. However, for the first time on record, Austria and Bulgaria emerged as second and third countries issuing the most decisions, overtaking Germany and Greece (see the right side of Figure 7). While Italy issued one-third more decisions than in 2021, decisions issued by Austria and Bulgaria almost tripled compared to the previous year, in fact, rising to the most in at least 6 years.
At lower levels, important relative increases also took place in Lithuania, Cyprus, Portugal, Croatia and Poland (in descending order).
Germany and France received the most decisions on Dublin requests, while Italy responded to the most requests
Figure 7. Decisions on outgoing Dublin requests by selected countries receiving a decision (left) and responding to a request (right), 2022
![Figure 7. Decisions on outgoing Dublin requests by selected countries receiving a decision (left) and responding to a request (right), 2022](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_column/public/2023-06/ar2023-figure7.png?itok=YYLQ1-oZ)
Source: EUAA EPS data.