Council Recommendation of 28 May 1998 on the provision of forgery detection equipment at ports of entry to the European Union
Date: 1998-05-28
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: border control, customs document, customs fraud, external border of the EU, in-service training

17.6.98

EN

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

C  189/19

COUNCIL  RECOMMENDATION

of  28  May  1998

on  the  provision  of  forgery  detection  equipment  at  ports  of  entry  to  the  European  Union

(98/C  189/02)

THE  COUNCIL  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  UNION,

Reference material

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  European  Union,  and  in
particular  Article  K.3(2),  point  (a)  thereof,

Having  regard  to  the  initiative  presented  by  the  United
Kingdom,

Whereas  it  is  important  to  establish  uniform  levels  of
expertise  and  equipment  for  detecting  forged  documents
at  points  of  entry  to  the  European  Union,

HEREBY  RECOMMENDS  TO  THE  GOVERNMENTS  OF
THE  MEMBER  STATES:

to  take  the  following  steps  to  ensure  uniform  levels  of
equipment  at  ports  of  entry:

1.  Determining  factors

The  equipment  to  be  made  available  at  points  of
entry  should  be  determined  by  reference  to  the
following  factors:

—  amounts  of  passenger  traffic,

—  current  levels  of  abuse,

—  availability  of  reference  material,

—  Manual  of  genuine  EU  documents,

—  European  fraud  bulletin;

(b) INTERMEDIATE  level:  small  to  medium-sized
entry  points  permanently  manned  by  staff  with
basic  training  and  the  additional  presence  or
availability  of  a  document  specialist  trained  to  an
intermediate  standard.

Equipment  required:

Ultra-violet  light  source

—  fixed,  on  each  control  desk  and  for  office

use,

—  portable, for mobile use, e. g. on board trains,

coaches, etc.;

Magnification

—  low  power  stereozoom  microscope,

—  light  source  with  flexible  fibre-optic 

light

guide,

—  light  box;

—  presence  of  control  officers  and  standards  of

training  provided.

Reference material

2.  Recommended  levels  of  provision

(a)  MINIMUM level: small entry points, or those not
permanently manned, using staff trained only to a
basic  standard.

Equipment  required:

Ultra-violet  light  source

—  fixed,  for  office  use,

—  portable, for mobile use, e. g. on board trains,

coaches,  etc.;

Magnification

—  Hand-held  lenses,

—  manual  of  genuine  EU  documents,

—  European  fraud  bulletin;

(c)  UPPER  level:  permanently  manned  entry  points
levels  of  document  abuse,
encountering  high 
staffed  by  a  variety  of  trained  personnel  and
document  specialists.

Equipment  required:

Ultra-violet  light  source

—  fixed,  on  each  control  desk  and  for  office

use,

—  portable, for mobile use, e. g. on board trains,

—  large  illuminated  bench  magnifying  glass;

coaches, etc.;

C  189/20

EN

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

17.6.98

Magnification

Reference material

—  low  power  stereozoom  microscope,

—  light  source  with  flexible  fibre-optic 

light

—  manual  of  genuine  EU  documents,

—  European  fraud  bulletin.

guide,

—  light  box;

Done  at  Brussels,  28  May  1998.

Infra-red  scanning  equipment

—  infra-red  document  examination  apparatus;

For  the  Council

The  President

J.  STRAW