Proposal for a Council Regulation laying down a uniform format for residence permits for third-
country nationals
(2001/C 180 E/29)
(Text with EEA relevance)
COM(2001) 157 final  2001/0082(CNS)
(Submitted by the Commission on 22 March 2001)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 63 (3) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,
Whereas:
(1) The Amsterdam Treaty aims establishing progressively an
area of freedom, security and justice and confers a sharedright of initiative to the Commission in order to take therelevant measures on a harmonised immigration policy.
(2) The special European Council of Tampere emphasised the
need for this harmonised immigration policy and in viewof the provisions of the Treaty related to the entry andresidence of third-country nationals.
(3) The Joint Action of 16 December 1996 adopted by the
Council on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty onEuropean Union concerning a uniform format forresidence permits (97/11/JHA) (
1) confirms the necessity
to harmonise the format of residence permits issued byMember States to third country nationals.
(4) The Joint Action 97/11/JHA should now be replaced by a
Community measure.
(5) It is essential that the uniform format for residence
permits should contain all the necessary informationand meet very high technical standards, in particular asregards safeguards against counterfeiting and falsification;this will contribute to the objective of preventing andfighting against illegal immigration and illegal residence.It must also be suited to use by all the Member States andbear universally recognisable harmonised security features,which are clearly visible to the naked eye.
(6) This Regulation only lays down such specifications as are
not secret; these specifications need to be supplementedby further specifications which are to remain secret inorder to prevent counterfeiting and falsifications andwhich may not include personal data or references tosuch data. Powers to adopt such supplementary specifi-cations should be conferred to the Commission, who shallbe assisted by the Committee established by Article 6 ofCouncil Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 of 29 May 1995laying down a uniform format for visas (
2).(7) To ensure that the information referred to is not made
available to more persons than necessary, it is alsoessential that each Member State should designate notmore than one body having responsibility for printingthe uniform format for residence permits, with MemberStates remaining free to change the body. For securityreasons, each Member State must communicate thename of the competent body to the Commission and tothe other Member States.
(8) With regard to the personal data to be entered on the
uniform format for residence permits, compliance shouldbe ensured with Directive 95/46/EC of the EuropeanParliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 onthe protection of individuals with regard to the processingof personal data and on the free movement of suchdata (
3).
(9) Since the measures necessary for the implementation of
this Regulation are measures of general scope within the
meaning of Article 2 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC of28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exerciseof implementing powers conferred on the Commission (
4),
they should be adopted by use of the regulatoryprocedure provided for in Article 5 of that decision.
(10) The present Regulation constitutes in relation to the
implementation of the Agreement on the association ofNorway and Iceland a development of the Schengenacquis in the sense of the Protocol integrating theSchengen acquis into the framework of the European
Union;
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
1. Residence permits issued by Member States to third
country nationals shall be in a uniform format and providespace for the information set out in the annex hereto. Theuniform format can be used as a sticker or a stand-alonedocument. Each Member State may add in the relevant spaceof the uniform format information of importance regarding thenature of the permit and the legal status of the personconcerned, in particular information as to whether or notthe person is permitted to work.EN C 180 E/304 Official Journal of the European Communities 26.6.2001
(1) OJ L 7 , 10.1.1997 , p. 1.
(2) OJ L 164, 14.7.1995, p. 1.(3) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31.
(4) OJ L 184, 17 .7.1999, p. 23.
2. For the purpose of this Regulation:
(a) residence permit shall mean any authorisation issued by
the authorities of a Member State allowing a third countrynational to stay legally on its territory, with the exceptionof:
(i) visas,
(ii) permits issued pending examination of an application
for a residence permit or for asylum.
(b) third-country national shall mean any person who is not a
citizen of the Union within the meaning of Article 17 (1) of
the Treaty establishing the European Community.
Article 2
Additional technical specifications for the uniform format for
residence permits relating to the following shall be establishedin compliance with the procedure referred to in Article 6 (2):
(a) further security requirements including enhanced anti-
forgery, counterfeiting and falsification standards.
(b) conditions of storage to prevent theft;
(c) rules for the filling-in of the uniform residence permit;
(d) other conditions necessary for the implementation of the
uniform format.
Article 3
The specifications referred to in Article 2 shall be secret and
not be published. They shall be made available only to thebodies designated by the Member States as responsible forthe printing and to persons duly authorised by a MemberState or the Commission.
Each Member State shall designate one body having responsi-
bility for printing the uniform residence permit. It shallcommunicate the name of that body to the Commission andthe other Member States. The same body may be designated bytwo or more Member States. Each Member State shall beentitled to change its designated body. It shall inform theCommission and the other Member States accordingly.
Article 4
The format, production and use of the uniform residence
permit shall comply with Directive 95/46/EC.
Without prejudice to these rules, persons to whom the
residence permit is issued shall have the right to verify thepersonal particulars contained in the residence permit and,where appropriate, to ask for any corrections or deletions to
be made.
No information in machine-readable form shall be included in
the residence permit, unless provided for in the Annex hereto,or unless it is mentioned in the relevant travel document.
Article 5
This Regulation does not apply to third-country nationals, who
are:
 members of the families of citizens of the Union exercising
their right to free movement,
 nationals of Member States of the European Free Trade
Association party to the Agreement on the European
Economic Area and members of their families exercisingtheir right to free movement in accordance with thisagreement.
Article 6
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee
instituted by Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 1683/95.
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, the regulatory
procedure laid down in Article 5 of Decision 1999/468/ECshall apply, in compliance with Article 7 thereof.
3. The period provided for in Article 5 (6) of Decision
1999/468/EC shall be one month.
Article 7
Member States shall issue the uniform form for residence
permits set out in Article 1 no later than one year after theadoption of the measures referred to in Article 2(a).
From that time, this Regulation shall replace in the Member
State concerned the Joint Action 97/11/JHA.
However, the validity of authorisations granted in documents
already issued shall not be affected by the introduction of theuniform format for residence permits, unless the Member Stateconcerned decides otherwise.
Article 8
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day
following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities .
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly
applicable in all Member States in accordance with the ECTreaty.EN 26.6.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities C 180 E/305
ANNEX
(a)Description
The residence permit will be produced either as a sticker, if possible in ID 2 format, or as a stand-alone document in
ID 1 or ID 2 format. It should be orientated to the specifications set out in the ICAO Document on machine-
readable visas (Document 9303 part 2) or on machine-readable travel documents (cards) (Document 9303 part 3). Itshall contain the following items:
1. The title of the document (Residence permit) shall appear in the language(s) of the issuing Member State (*).
2. The document number  with special security features and preceded by an identification letter .
3.1. Name : surname and forename(s) in that order (*).
4.2. Valid until : shall indicate the relevant expiry date, or, where appropriate, a word to indicate unlimited validity
5.3. Place/date of issue : the place and date of issue of the residence permit (*).
6.4. Type of permit : the specific type of residence permit issued to the third country national by the Member
State (*). For the member of the family of a EU citizen, who has not exercised the right of free movement it
should be mentioned family member.
7.5.-9. Remarks : Member States may enter details and indications for national use necessary with regard to their
rules on third country nationals including indications relating to any permission to work (*).
8. Date/Signature/Authorisation:  if necessary  the signature and seal of the issuing authority and/or the
holder.
9. The printed area shall contain the national emblem of the Member State to distinguish the residence permit and
provide a safeguard of its national origin.
10. Machine-readable area. The machine-readable area shall conform to ICAO guidelines.
11. The machine-readable area shall contain a printed text indicating exclusively the respective Member State. This
text may not affect the technical features of the machine-readable zone.
12. Metallized latent image effect including the country code of the Member State, if a sticker or a non-laminated
paper card is used.
13. OVD (kinegram or equivalent sign).
14. If the residence permit is produced as a stand-alone document, an identity photograph shall be affixed and
secured with OVD film (kinefilm or equivalent security laminate).
15. The following additional information boxes shall be provided on the back in the case of a stand-alone document:
 date/place of birth (*),
 nationality (*),
 sex (*),
 remarks (*).
The address of the permit holder may also be indicated (*).EN C 180 E/306 Official Journal of the European Communities 26.6.2001
(*) Where this information appears in an official language using non-Latin characters, it should be transliterated in Latin characters.
(b)Colour, Printing procedure
The Member States establish the colour and the printing procedure in accordance with the uniform model set out in
this Annex and the technical specifications to be established in accordance with Article 2 of the Regulation.
(c)Material
The paper used for the residence permit giving personal particulars or other data shall meet the following
requirements:
 no optical brighteners,
 duo-tone watermarks,
 security reagents to guard against attempts at tampering by chemical erasure, coloured fibres (partly visible, partly fluorescent under UV light),
 UV-fluorescent planchettes.
If a card for inserting personal data is made entirely of plastic, it is not usually possible to incorporate the auth-
entication marks used in residence permit paper. The lack of marks in the materials shall be compensated for by
measures in respect of security printing, use of OVDs (OVD = optically variable device), or an issuing technique overand above the following enhanced standards. The essential security features of the material should be of a uniformpattern.
(d)Printing technique
The following printing techniques shall be available:
 Background printing:
two-tone guilloches,
fluorescent rainbow colouring,
UV-fluorescent overprinting,
effective anti-counterfeiting and falsification motifs
reagent inks must be used on paper cards and stickers.
The lay-out of the front side of a card shall be distinguishable from the back side.
 Form printing:
with integrated micro printing (unless already included in background printing).
 Numbering:
Printed (where possible with a special style of figures or typeface and in UV-fluorescent ink), or, in cards
integrated using the same technique as for the biographical data. If a sticker is used, printed numbering
using fluorescent ink and a special style of figures is obligatory.
If stickers or non-laminated paper cards are used, intaglio printing with latent image effect, micro text and
optically variable ink shall also be employed. Additional optically variable security devices shall also be used on
cards made entirely of plastic, at least through the use of optically variable ink or equivalent measures. Theessential features of the security printing should be of a uniform pattern.
(e)Protection against copying
A harmonised optically variable (OVD) or equivalent device shall be used on the residence permit sticker or on the
front of the residence permit card and shall take the form of diffractive structures (kinegram or equivalent) incor-
porated into the hot-sealed laminate or as an OVD overlay, or, on stickers or a non-laminated paper card, as
metallised OVD (with intaglio overprinting).EN 26.6.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities C 180 E/307
(f)Issuing technique
To ensure that residence permit data are properly secured against attempts at counterfeiting and falsification,
personal data including the photograph, the holder’s signature and main issue data shall in future be integratedinto the basic material of the document. Conventional methods of attaching the photograph shall no longer be used.
The following issuing techniques may be used:
laser printing,thermo-transfer,
ink-jet printing,
photographic,laser engraving.
To ensure that biographical issue data are adequately protected against attempts at tampering, hot-seal lamination
with OVD security laminate shall be made compulsory where laser printing, thermo-transfer or photographictechniques are used.
(g) Member States have the possibility as regards to point (c), (d) and (e) to introduce further security features in so far
as these are in conformity with decisions already taken about these matters.
The technical requirements and the security features shall correspond to the requirements and specifications set out
in Regulation (EC) 1683/95 laying down a uniform format for visas.
Residence Permit for third country nationals in card-form
EN C 180 E/308 Official Journal of the European Communities 26.6.2001
Residence Permit for third country nationals in sticker form
EN 26.6.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities C 180 E/309