EN    EN  
 EUROPEAN  
COMMISSION 
Brussels, 29.10.2014  
COM(2014) 663 final 
  
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 
On the fulfilment by Peru of the relevant cri teria in view of the negotiation of a visa 
waiver agreement between the European Union and Peru  
{SWD(2014) 328 final}  
 
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 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 
European Parliament and Council Regulation No 509/20141 (hereinafter the ‘amending 
Regulation’) amended Council Regulation No 539/20012 and in particular its annexes 
containing the lists of third countries whose na tionals must be in possession of visas when 
crossing the external borders and those whose na tionals are exempt from that requirement. 
Nineteen countries were transferred from Annex I (visa obligation) to Annex II (visa 
exemption), namely Colombia, Dominica, Gren ada, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, 
Nauru, Palau, Peru, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, 
Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuval u, the United Arab Emirates and Vanuatu. 
The amending Regulation further specified that the exemption from the visa requirement for 
nationals of these 19 countries should only apply from the date  of entry into force of an 
agreement on visa waiver to be concluded by each of these countries with the European Union. 
Recital 5 of the amending Regulat ion states that before opening negotiations on bilateral visa 
waiver agreements with Colombia and Peru, th e Commission would have to further assess the 
situation of these two countries with regard to the criteria se t out in the amending Regulation. 
Indeed, the amending Regulation has formalised ( by transferring them from a recital to a new 
article) and enlarged the traditional list of cr iteria that were being considered until now. The 
non-exhaustive list of the crit eria that henceforth determine, based on a case-by-case 
assessment, the third countries whose nationals are subject to, or exempt from, the visa 
obligation, can be found in  Article 1(1) of the amending Regulation: ‘ illegal immigration, 
public policy and security, economic benefit, in  particular in terms of tourism and foreign 
trade, and the Union’s external relations with the relevant third countries, including in 
particular, considerations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as the 
implications of regional coherence and reciprocity ’. 
With this report, and a separate one adopted in parallel covering Colombia, the Commission 
fulfils the above-mentioned requirement. Both reports are accompanied by Commission staff 
working documents presenting the detailed data that underpin their conclusions and 
containing information about the data so urces and methodology used to produce the 
assessment. 
In preparing the assessment, th e Commission requested and receiv ed contributions from three 
EU agencies: EASO, Europol and Frontex. The EU Delegation in Peru provided a 
comprehensive report on EU-Peru relations. Spain, as the Member State traditionally most affected by migration from Peru, provided a dditional information. Peruvian authorities 
showed a high degree of will ingness to cooperate with the Commission during the preparation 
of the assessment. 
 
                                                            
1 OJ L 149, 20.05.2014, p. 67. 
2 OJ L 81, 21.03.2001, p. 1. 
 
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 2. ASSESSMENT OF THE CRITERIA 
This report broadly reflects the criteria listed in Article 1(1) of the amending Regulation; it 
also assesses the possible risk  scenarios stemming from visa liberalisation, before presenting 
the conclusions.   
2.1. Migration and mobility 
Schengen visas 
Analysis of statistics on Schengen visas applied fo r and issued in Peru in recent years leads to 
the following observations: 
• More Peruvians are willing to travel to th e Schengen area for tourism, business or other 
types of short stays. The number of Sche ngen visas issued in Peru has grown by 21  % in 
the last four years. While in 2010 the number of visas issued was 39  914, by 2013 the 
number had reached 48  488. This increase is probably linke d to the significant economic 
growth experienced by Peru in the last decade; 
• The vast majority of Pe ruvian applicants (93.3  % in 2013) are considered to be bona fide  
travellers who pose no risk and th erefore obtain a short-stay visa , with the visa refusal rate 
having decreased significantly in the last four years, from 11.6  % in 2010 to 6.7  % in 2013.  
Legal migration 
The resident population of Peruvi ans (not counting those having acquired the citizenship of a 
Member State) in the EU+3 in 2013 can be estim ated to be around 206  000, with slightly more 
Peruvians now residing in Italy than in Spain. Th e data show that after a period of significant 
growth, mostly in Spain and Italy, legal migra tion of Peruvians to the EU is currently at a 
relatively low level. Th is is due in part to the economic  crisis, meaning fewer jobs and 
opportunities for migrants in the EU+, thus reducing the pull factor s, and to the clear 
improvement of the economic situation in Per u, which means today Peruvians are looking for 
local employment and the opportunity to deve lop successful businesses within the country, 
thus reducing the push factors. Th e Peruvian government is at pr esent promoting the return of 
Peruvians residing abroad thr ough implementation of the ‘Law on the economic and social re-
integration of the returning immigrant’ and it s accompanying regulations , which will facilitate 
the return of Peruvians to the country. The La w provides that returnin g Peruvians can have 
easier access to credit for starting up a business, tax exemptions are granted for the import of emigrants' goods, and facilitated access to schol arships for university studies and educational 
credits as well as to housing loans and to public health insurance is available.  
As long as Peru’s economy continues growing at  the current rates, averaging more than 6
 % 
GDP growth in the last 10 years,  Peruvians will have less of an incentive to emigrate. The 
current economic situation in the EU, together  with geography and established communities, 
may explain why more Peruvians have been legall y emigrating to the United States than to the 
EU in recent years.  
                                                            
3 Whenever ‘EU totals’ are presented, they exclude, unl ess otherwise stated, the United Kingdom and Ireland 
as these two countries do not participate in the EU’s co mmon visa policy. Whenever ‘EU+ totals’ are presented, 
these include data for the four Schengen associat ed countries (Iceland, Li echtenstein, Norway and 
Switzerland).  
 
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Irregular migration 
Data on entry refusals, apprehensions and return s show that Peru is not a significant source 
country of irregular migrants to the EU. Some negative trends recorded years ago have all but 
disappeared now and the situation has improved markedly in recent years, with decreasing 
numbers of refusals and apprehensions. The numb er of Peruvians found to be in an irregular 
migration situation in the EU+ in 2013 was 1  050. Given that the figure for 2008 was 1  950, 
the number of apprehensions has almost halved  over that period. Several factors may be at 
work here: the economic downturn in the EU, a nd in particular in Spain and Italy (main 
Member States of destination for Peruvian irregular migrants), means fewer jobs and 
opportunities, while improved economic conditions  in Peru provide Peruvians with the 
appropriate conditions for obt aining prosperity at home. 
The gap between the number of return decisions issued and the number of  effected returns to 
a third country is measured by the so-called ‘ret urn ratio’. The return ratio for Peruvians was 
very low between 2008 and 2011 (less than 20  %) but since then it has progressively 
improved (26.1  % in 2012 and 37.3  % in 2013), so it is now very si milar to the average return 
ratio worldwide (36.6  %). The cooperation on return with th e Peruvian authoriti es is excellent, 
according to the authorities of the mo st affected Member State, Spain4 – the two countries 
signed a migration cooperation agreement, c overing return, in 2004. Possible causes of the 
relatively low return ratio ar e absconding migrants and appeal s filed against the return 
decisions.      According to Frontex, compared to overall irre gular migration pressures faced by the EU, the 
risks arising from a visa waiver for Peruvian  citizens are likely to remain fairly modest, 
although it is also likely that the number of entry refusals will in crease, as evidenced by other 
visa liberalisation cases. 
 
The relatively high asylum flows from Peru in the early 1990s was a short-lived phenomenon. 
The number of asylum applications has remained at  very low levels in the past six years, with 
just 105 asylum applications from Peruvians re corded in 2013. Most of the asylum decisions 
were negative over that period. Current low levels ar e likely to continue , with or without 
lifting of the visa obligation. A significant incr ease in unfounded asylum applications, similar 
to what happened after previous visa liberalisati on processes, is an unlikely scenario given the 
vastly different circumstances. For example, travel costs are much higher in the case of Peru and there is no history of large-scale submissi on of unfounded asylum applications associated 
with different economically marginalised groups of Peruvian society. In other words, abusing 
the visa-free regime for the purpose of requestin g asylum is simply not economically viable 
given that the travel costs for a family are si gnificantly higher than the expected benefits 
associated with the asylum procedure in the EU.  It is worth noting that any increased risk of irregular migrati on that may follow the 
introduction of visa-free travel for Peruvian c itizens could be partially offset by reinforced 
cooperation between the EU and Peru in pr eventing and combating irregular migration, 
                                                            
4 Spain issued 385 return  decisions to Peruvians in 2013  ; Italy came next with 205. 
 
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 including through cooperation on return, and in this regard concluding an EU readmission 
agreement would be an option to consider.  
Security of Peruvian travel documents and document fraud involving Peruvians 
Although Peruvian authorities have made effort s to incorporate the required international 
specifications into their national passports , further improvements could be made by 
addressing two minor technical i ssues of Peruvian passports (n amely the re-validation page 
and bar code on bio page). Notwithstanding this , over the last few years the government has 
increased the security features of the passports  and simplified the proc edure for issuing them. 
The Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has confirmed Peru’s commitment to issue 
biometric passports in the near future. Together with the Superintendencia de Migraciones , 
which is part of the Ministry of the Interior  and whose competencies include the issuing of 
passports to Peruvian citizens, the MFA has drawn up the terms of reference and launched a 
public tender to identify the comp any that will be in charge of the process.  According to 
official sources, the public bidding for implementation of the biometric passport will take place in the second half of 2014. 
As things stand, there do not seem to be si gnificant risks related to  Peruvian nationals 
engaging in document fraud or to Peruvian travel documents being fraudulently used. 
However, if Peruvian travel documents afford vi sa-free entry to their holders in the future, it 
is likely they will become more attractive to fraudsters. Increased vigilance by border guards will be required to identif y this type of fraud. 
2.2. Crime and security 
Peruvian organised crime groups (OCGs) are pres ent only to a limited extent in the EU. Latin 
American OCGs favour the Iberia n Peninsula as thei r base of operations due to cultural, 
linguistic and historical ties. Here, they ar e particularly involved in the cocaine trade 
(Colombia and Peru are the worl d’s biggest producers of cocain e) and laundering of criminal 
proceeds. 
Latin American OCGs are mainly active in dr ugs production and trafficking, predominantly 
cocaine, as well as euro counterfeiting, traffick ing in human beings for sexual exploitation, 
organised property crime, payment card frauds and money laundering.  
Europol has reported that, give n the certain increas e in passenger flows from Peru, OCGs 
involved in drug trafficking are ve ry likely to try to take advant age of the growing number of 
passengers travelling between Peru and the EU+ by increasingly rely ing on drug and money 
couriers. Mobile OCGs originating from Peru will be able to enter and leave the EU more 
freely. Peruvian OCGs may also exploit irregular  migrants using facilit ation services for the 
legalisation of long-term stay by recruiting them as cash or drug couriers as payment for their 
services. 
Visa-free regimes tend particular ly to facilitate crimes i nvolving persons such as the 
facilitation of irregular migrati on and trafficking in human beings  (THB). Visa-free travel and 
easier access to the Schengen area could also enhance the mobility of OCGs and individual 
criminals by eliminating the filter that the vi sa obligation currently provides and by enabling 
them, once in the Schengen area, to pass from  one country to another without going through 
border controls. 
 
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 Peru has ratified the UN Convention against Tr ansnational Organized Crime and the Palermo 
Protocol on THB, and has in place a comprehensiv e legal framework in li ne with international 
standards. Peru should continue its effort s towards strengthening the judiciary system, 
including judicial cooperation in  criminal matters, in particular mutual legal assistance.  
 
2.3. Economy, trade and tourism 
Peru has a population of almost 30 million. The value of its economy in 2012 was estimated 
by the World Bank to be USD  192.6 billion, making it the 48th biggest economy in the world. 
The GNI (PPP) per capita in 2012 was USD  10 770, similar to that of Colombia. In the past 
decade the annual growth of Pe ru’s economy has averaged 6.5  %, one of the highest in the 
world. The percentage of people living under the poverty line decreased from 59  % of the 
population in 2004 to 25.8  % in 2012. Unemployment is less than 9  % and inflation is stable at 
around 3  %.   
The EU is one of the most important trade partners of Peru. The EU is also the largest foreign 
investor in the country (50  % of the total FDI). Trade betw een the EU and Peru has grown 
significantly in recent years and its total value reached EUR 8.8 billion in 2013 (14.1  % of the 
total trade of Peru). The EU is Peru’s th ird biggest export market (EUR 5.3 billion, 16.3  % of 
total), mainly composed of raw materials (miner als, fuels, agricultura l products), and the EU 
is the third most important market of origin for Peru’s imports (EUR 3.5 billion, 12  % of 
total), which are mainly indus trial products (machinery and transport equipment, other 
manufactured goods, chemicals). 
The EU-Peru Trade Agreement has been applie d provisionally since 1 March 2013 and trade 
flows of goods are expected to increase in th e coming years. The Ag reement will liberalise 
trade for nearly 98  % of goods, and widely opens market access for services, investment and 
procurement, and establishes common discipline s in all trade-related areas. Furthermore, 
Peru, together with the EU, is amongst the 23 WTO-members that are negotiating a 
multilateral ambitious Trade in Services Agreem ent (“TiSA”), which includes a strong “mode 
4” component. In this context, visa-free trav el for Peruvian businesspeople could lead to 
stronger economic ties between Peruvian and European companies, as more frequent 
participation of Peruvian busine sspeople in trade fairs in the EU could for instance result in 
more orders for products produ ced by European businesses. 
 The number of Peruvian tourists in the EU+ ha s increased in recent years. According to data 
provided by the Peruvian authorities,  between 2010 and 2013 there was a 12.9
 % increase in 
Peruvian tourists’ departures  for EU+ countries. In 2013 the number of Peruvian tourists 
departing for EU+ countries was 154  349,5 up from 136  734 in 2010. In 2013 the main 
destinations were Spain (93  121), the Netherlands (33  059), France (18  203) and Italy (6  309).6  
                                                            
5 This number is much higher than the number of Scheng en visas issued. The difference may be due to several 
factors: around 30  % of Schengen visas issued in Peru are multiple entry visas;  some Peruvians recorded as 
departing tourists may hold a valid residence  permit issued by a Schengen State; etc. 
6 I t  m u s t  b e  n o t e d  t h a t  t h e s e  f i g u r e s  s e e m  t o  r e f l e c t the first arrival point in European territory and the 
availability of direct flights between Peru and Spain, the Netherlands and France, an d not necessarily the main 
destination of the trip. 
 
7 
 According to information obtained by the EU De legation in Bogota, whic h can be applied to 
the case of Peru, given the similarity in the ch aracteristics of tourist outflows from Peru and 
Colombia, European airlines flying the rout es between Colombia and the Schengen area 
expect a 10-20  % increase in the number of passengers if visa liberalisation becomes a reality. 
This estimate, similar to the one reported by the Colombian authorities to Frontex (+17  %), is 
mainly based on increases observed in ot her routes after visa liberalisation. 
In any case, tourist flows from Peru are incr easing every year, so visa liberalisation would 
provide an extra boost to touris t flows between Peru and the EU+. Based on these figures and 
past and estimated future growth rates, it  could be realistic to expect between 200  000 and 
225  000 Peruvian tourists in 2016 in  EU+ countries, assuming that 2016 would be the first full 
year when visa-free travel becomes a reality between Peru and the Schengen area. 
 
 
2.4. External relations, in particular wi th the EU, and human rights issues 
External relations 
Peru´s foreign policy focuses primarily on stre ngthening good relations  with its neighbours on 
all fronts, developing more in tense trade relations with Asia , while preserving good relations 
with the EU and the US. At regional leve l, Peru is playing a constructive role. 
 
Peru is a member of the Pacific Alliance comp osed of four Latin American countries (Peru, 
Colombia, Chile and Mexico) whose aim is to strengthen economic/trade integration, but also going further by cooperating on migration, educati on, security and other issues. Peru also 
participates in the negotiations on th e Trans Pacific Partnership Initiative. 
 
After Venezuela´s withdrawal from the And ean Community (CAN), the four active members 
of CAN are Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador . CAN is currently in a transition phase and 
the scope of the organization has been mainly redu ced to trade, infrastructure and mobility of 
citizens.   Peru is one of the European Union’s foremost pa rtners in Latin America.  The EU is one of the 
largest aid donors and k eeps the highest stock of foreign in vestments. Bilate ral relations are 
fluid and good and cover inter alia  high-level policy dialogue, tr ade and investment, the fight 
against drug trafficking as we ll as a still significant develo pment cooperation envelope (EUR 
66 million for 2014-2017 just for the bilatera l cooperation). EU development cooperation 
funds are supporting Peru’s efforts to modernise the State, strengthen social inclusion, fight 
against malnutrition and against drugs and drug trafficking, as well as to promote alternative 
development, product diversification and ecological trade. 
 
The EU has a regular informal policy dialogue with Peru (established under the framework of 
a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2009) addr essing issues of mutual interest such as 
good governance, foreign policy, so cial conflicts and extractive industries, human rights and 
drugs. Meetings take place every year with the participation of high-level representatives of 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other competent ministries and EU officials. 
 
Peru shares the EU’s vision on many global cha llenges and has similar strategic interests  
(democracy, human rights, good governance, envi ronment and climate change, fight against 
 
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 drugs). Collaboration with Peru in multilateral fora  is increasing (such as in the context of the 
UN Human Rights Council or in re spect of climate change – Peru is hosting the COP20 in 
2014). In these multilateral fora, Peru has ge nerally been supportive of EU positions. 
 
Human rights 
With the participation of civil society, Peru is implementing a medium and long-term policy 
to enhance the protection of human rights. Peru ha s established high-level institutions such as 
the National Human Rights Council and the National Labour and Employment Promotion 
Council, whose objectives are to  promote and defend civil, political, socio-economic and 
cultural rights, and which have designed and implemented various activities, programmes and 
strategies, such as the National Strategy for th e prevention and eradica tion of child labour, the 
National Environmental Action Plan and the Prior Consultation Law. In July 2014, the government adopted the National Plan for Human Rights 2014-16. 
 Human rights are guaranteed by the Peruvian Constitution and external observers confirm that the situation over the last years has improved. Civil society organisations focus mainly on 
cases of judicial harassment against envi ronmentalist organisations and human rights 
defenders who are often part of social protests  against extractive indus tries. There are also 
reports of excessive use of force by the polic e against protesters in social conflicts. 
 
The most relevant human rights issues in Peru are as follows: 
 
a) The debate about the Truth and Reconc iliation Committee´s final report assessing  the 
causes and consequences of the political violen ce between 1980 and 2000 is still a source of 
polarisation in Peru. Another pending issue conne cted with the post-inte rnal conflict has to do 
with the judicial prosecution of human rights offenders (during the internal conflict). In 
addition, reparation to victims is ge nerally considered insufficient. 
 
b) Social and economic rights:  poverty and extreme poverty rates have fallen by 11.5
 % and 
4.9 % over the last five years but the rates at ru ral level remain relatively high. However, it is 
to be noted that social policies are an impor tant pillar of President Humala´s government 
programme and several new social  initiatives targeting the poor est sections of society have 
been launched nationwide. 
 
c) Prior consultation of indigenous communitie s: Immediately after his election, President 
Humala approved the pending Prior Consultati on Law implementing ILO Convention Nº 169 
in order to guarantee th e rights of indigenous po pulations to be consul ted on any decision that 
may impact on their territory and livelihood. The current challenge is to implement the law, 
especially where it concerns the rights of indi genous peoples vis-à-vis investment interests. 
 
d) Women´s rights:  Even if  Peru has subscribed to all UN Conventions relating to women’s 
rights, women are still weakly represented at  the higher levels of decision-making, their 
average rate of analphabetism remains higher th an for men, fewer women form part of the 
formal economy and their average salary is sign ificantly lower than that  of men. Protection of 
the health and reproductive rights of women need s to be improved and the rates of violence 
against women and girls, including rape, dom estic abuse and sexual, physical and mental 
abuse remain a serious problem. 
 
 
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 e) Children´s rights: in the rural, mountain and Amazonian areas, many children’s rights are 
not respected, in particul ar in terms of identity/registry, education, malnutrition, child labour, 
violence and sexual abuse/exploitation.   
 
f) There is still significant gender and racial discriminati on, especially ag ainst women, 
indigenous peoples, disabled people, the LG BTI community and people affected by HIV/ 
AIDS.    
 
2.5. Regional coherence 
Taking Latin America as the region of reference,  Peru is in the minor ity of countries whose 
citizens require a visa.7 The past history of internal  conflict and violence, drug 
production/trafficking and the resu lting migratory and security risks explain why a visa has 
traditionally been required from Peruvian citizens. Peru has however made significant advances in tackling these problems, as shown in other sections of this report. While few 
countries in Peru’s neighbourhood can be considered  to be entirely risk-free, most of them 
have traditionally enjoyed visa -free status for the Schengen area. It might therefore seem 
incongruous to keep the visa requirement for Pe ruvians while exempting the citizens of most 
of the other countries in the region. 
2.6. Reciprocity 
Most EU citizens have traditionally been exempt ed from the visa obligation to enter Peru. 
Today, all EU citizens are exempted from the visa requirement to enter Peru for stays of up to six months. Therefore, Peru already complie s with, and even goes beyond, the reciprocity 
conditions. Notwithstanding this, any future visa  waiver agreement betw een the EU and Peru 
would need to confirm recipr ocal visa-free travel.    
 
3. RISK SCENARIOS 
Given all the trends, events and developments described above, it is possible to imagine at 
least two risk scenarios for the Schengen area fo llowing the abolition of the visa requirement 
for Peruvian citizens. 
3.1. Low risk scenario 
Under this scenario, visa-f ree travel for Peruvians w ould not produce any undesirable 
consequences for the EU+. This scenario assumes that the Peruvian economy will continue to grow at a healthy pace, leading to higher sala ries and lower unemployment and poverty rates. 
Criminal groups’ activities would decrease, as  would the importance of drug production and 
trafficking. Democracy and funda mental rights would be furt her consolidated. Peru would 
then fulfil its development potential.   
                                                            
7 Six countries, namely Cuba, Dominican Republic, Colomb ia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The remaining 13 Latin 
American countries are visa-free: Mexico, El Salvador , Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, 
Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile. 
 
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 Continued economic growth would eliminate th e only existing push factors that influence 
irregular migration to the EU+. Trade with an d tourism towards the EU + would be likely to 
increase, bringing tangible economic benefits. 
3.2. Medium risk scenario 
Under this scenario, Peru’s economy continues growing, albeit at a much slower pace; crime 
levels increase; the country’s mechanisms of protection of huma n rights would become 
weaker which may lead to abuses, thus nece ssitating close monitori ng of the human rights 
situation. 
These problems could become factors that woul d push some Peruvians to abuse the visa-free 
regime and enter the EU+ territory legally while intending to stay irregularly after the legal period of short stay (90 days). Criminal networ ks could also prosper in an unstable Peru and 
export their criminal activiti es to the EU+ more easily. 
Should these negative developmen ts occur and lead to significant threats to the Union in 
terms of migration, security or other areas, th e Union must be able to react quickly to any 
worsening situation. The visa wa iver agreement to be negotiate d with Peru should include in 
its final provisions the possibi lity for each Contracting Party to suspend and terminate the 
agreement. This will guarantee that, if a s ituation becomes worrying, quick remedying action 
will be possible. In addition, the possibility of reinforcing cooperation with Peru on facilitated 
return of irregular migrants and failed asylum applicants could be considered as outlined above in order to compensate for a possible ri se in irregular immigration. Such cooperation 
would further reduce any need for suspension or termination of the visa waiver agreement. 
4. CONCLUSIONS 
The information contained in this report, dem onstrating the significant  improvement of the 
Peruvian economic and social situ ation in recent years, provide s justification that Peruvians 
should be granted visa-free entry into the Schengen area, as is already the case for citizens of 
most Latin American countries. 
This report has shown that trust in Peruvian visa applicants is  on the rise; irre gular migration 
is at very low levels; Peruvian travel docum ents are secure enough; security threats have 
receded; Peruvian organised crime groups (OCGs) are currently not assessed as a significant 
threat to the EU (w ith the exception of those involve d in drug trafficking); economic 
opportunities, including greater trade and touristic flows, ar e expanding in parallel with 
significant growth of the Per uvian economy; human rights and fundamental freedoms are now 
much better protected and respecte d in Peru than in the past; re ciprocity will be ensured as 
Peru already exempts all EU citizens from the visa obligation; and th e relationship between 
the EU and Peru is strong and stable. 
These positive developments do not mean that eliminating the visa requirement for Peruvian 
citizens is an entirely risk-fr ee exercise. Although the impact of  visa liberalisation on serious 
organised crime is considered to be limited and it is unlikely that the establishment of a visa-
free regime with Peru will lead to a notable increase in the activities  of OCGs originating 
from this country in the EU, Pe ruvian OCGs continue to act as traffickers of cocaine to 
Europe and visa liberalisation may facilitate th eir activities. While the bulk of cocaine is 
smuggled to the EU by sea using containers on co mmercial routes, the use of drug couriers is 
still an important modus operandi . An increase in passenger flows resulting from the 
introduction of visa-free travel will allow OCGs to intensify their use of  individual couriers. 
 
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 There is also a risk of an increase in tra fficked people and in the number of Peruvians who 
enter the EU+ legally but intend to over stay, thus becoming irregular migrants. 
 These risks are nevertheless considered to be manageable. Most of them could be minimised 
by reinforced cooperation on return  as mentioned above, and by ensu ring that border controls 
are correctly implemented, with reinforced re sources if necessary, at  the airports through 
which most Peruvians reach the Schengen area’s external borders, given that with increasing 
numbers of arrivals from Peru in the event of  visa-free travel becomi ng a reality, vetting of 
travellers will shift from consulat es to border control authorities. 
 In any case, the visa waiver agreement to be negotiated with Peru will contain the necessary 
safeguards to suspend or terminate the agreement should this be required to avoid security or migration risks for the Union. In order to k eep track of any negative developments, the 
Commission will set up a post-visa liberalisatio n monitoring mechanism focusing on potential 
migratory and security thr eats, and their causes.   
 As a consequence of the positive assessment of Peru contained in this report, and while special consideration should be given to the need for, and modalities of, engaging Peru in 
reinforced cooperation on retu rn, the Commission intends to present to the Council soon, once 
this report has been discussed in the appropriate committees and groups of the European 
Parliament and the Council, a recommendation fo r a decision to authorise the Commission to 
open negotiations for the conclusion of a short- stay visa waiver agreement between the EU 
and Peru.