The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Community Code on Visas. This proposal incorporates all legal instruments governing decisions in…
The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Community Code on Visas. This proposal incorporates all legal instruments governing decisions in relation to the conditions and procedures for issuing visas into one Code on Visas. This contributes to enhance transparency and to clarify the existing rules, increases the harmonisation of procedures and strengthens legal certainty and procedural guarantees.
The proposal is part of the objectives of the Hague programme to facilitating legitimate travel and to tackle illegal immigration through further harmonisation of national legislation and handling practices at local consular missions.
Background:
The Schengen acquis on visa policy, including the Common Consular Instructions (CCI), which was drawn up in the framework of the Schengen intergovernmental cooperation, was integrated into the institutional and legal framework of the European Union following the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam. The Schengen provisions on visa policy have been allocated a legal basis in the EC Treaty (Article 62 (2)(b)) and are therefore full part of Community law.
The CCI is currently the basic instrument governing the procedures and conditions for the issuance of short-stay visas, transit visas and airport transit visas, although certain principles also appear in the Schengen Convention itself and a number of provisions feature in other separate decisions.
The Hague Programme underlines the need for further development of the common visa policy as part of a multi-layered system aimed at facilitating legitimate travel and tackling illegal immigration through further harmonisation of national legislation and handling practices at local consular missions. To this end, among other measures, the Commission was invited to review the Common Consular Instructions.
In order to meet the objectives of the Hague Programme, the proposal:
- Incorporates all legal instruments governing decisions in relation to the conditions and procedures for issuing visas into one Code on Visas
- Develops certain parts of the current legislation in order to take account of recent developments and new dimensions of the visa issuance process and to fill in existing gaps
- Enhances transparency and legal certainty by clarifying the legal status of the provisions of the CCI and its annexes by removing from the legal instrument provisions that are redundant or of a practical operational nature
- Strengthens procedural guarantees by laying down rules on the mandatory motivation of refusals of visa applications
- Reinforces the equal treatment of visa applicants by clarifying a number of issues in order to enhance the harmonised application of the legislative provisions
Two separate proposals already adopted by the Commission in relation to visa processing are under negotiation within the European Parliament and the Council.
One concerns the Visa Information System and the other the introduction of biometrics including provisions on the organisation of the reception and processing of visa applications. Once adopted the corresponding articles of the visa code will be adapted accordingly.
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