on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Union and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on the short-stay visa waiver

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1.POLITICAL AND LEGAL BACKGROUND

Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 lists the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of a visa when crossing the external borders of the Member States and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement. Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 is applied by all Member States, with the exception of Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Regulation (EU) No 509/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council amended Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 by transferring 19 countries to Annex II, which lists the third countries whose nationals are exempt from the visa requirement. Those 19 countries are: Colombia, Dominica, Grenada, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Peru, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, the United Arab Emirates and Vanuatu. The reference to each of those countries in Annex II is accompanied by a footnote which specifies that "the exemption from the visa requirement shall apply from the date of entry into force of an agreement on visa exemption to be concluded with the European Union".

Regulation (EU) No 509/2014 was adopted on 20 May 2014 and entered into force on 9 June 2014. In July 2014, the Commission presented a Recommendation to the Council to authorise it to start negotiations on visa waiver agreements with each of the following 17 countries: Dominica, Grenada, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, the United Arab Emirates and Vanuatu. On 9 October 2014, the Council addressed negotiating directives to the Commission.

Colombia and Peru are, according to Recital 5 of Regulation (EU) No 509/2014 and the joint declaration issued at the time of adoption, subject to a specific procedure which requires a further assessment of the fulfilment by them of the relevant criteria, before the Commission can present to the Council recommendations for decisions authorising the opening of negotiations on visa waiver agreements with those two countries. They were therefore not included in the above-mentioned Recommendation to the Council.

The negotiations on the visa waiver agreement with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the four other Caribbean countries were opened on 12 November 2014 in Brussels. During that meeting the entire draft text could be reviewed and agreement was reached on most of its aspects. The representatives from the Caribbean countries insisted however on clarifying certain provisions in Articles 6(2)(c), 8(1) and 8(4). After a number of subsequent informal exchanges, minor modifications to those Articles were accepted by the Commission. The agreement was initialled by the chief negotiators on 11 December 2014.

The Member States were informed during the meeting of the Visa Working Party of the Council held on 21 November 2014.

On the part of the Union, the legal basis for the agreement is point (a) of Article 77(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in conjunction with Article 218 thereof.

[…] signed the Agreement on […] on behalf of the Union. In accordance with point (a) of the second subparagraph of Article 218(6) TFEU, the European Parliament’s consent for the conclusion of the Agreement was given on […].

2.OUTCOME OF THE NEGOTIATIONS

The Commission considers that the objectives set by the Council in its negotiating directives were attained and that the draft visa waiver agreement is acceptable to the Union.

The final content of it can be summarised as follows:

Purpose

The agreement provides for visa-free travel for the citizens of the European Union and for the citizens of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines when travelling to the territory of the other Contracting Party for a maximum period of 90 days in any 180-day period.

In order to safeguard equal treatment of all EU citizens, a provision has been included in the agreement stating that Saint Vincent and the Grenadines may suspend or terminate the agreement only in respect of all the Member States of the European Union and that the Union may also only suspend or terminate the agreement in respect of all of its Member States.

The specific situation of the United Kingdom and Ireland is reflected in the preamble.

Scope

The visa waiver covers all categories of persons (ordinary, diplomatic, service/official and special passport holders) travelling for all kinds of purposes, except for the purpose of carrying out a paid activity. For this latter category, each Member State and also Saint Vincent and the Grenadines remain free to impose the visa requirement on the citizens of the other Party in accordance with the applicable Union or national law. In order to ensure harmonised implementation, a joint declaration is attached to the agreement on the interpretation of the category of persons travelling for the purpose of carrying out a paid activity.