Council Decision of 28 September 2000 establishing a procedure for amending Articles 40(4) and (5), 41(7) and 65(2) of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual abolition of checks at common borders
Date: 2000-09-28
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU Member State, Schengen Agreement, application of EU law

3.10.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 248/1

(Acts adopted pursuant to Title VI of the Treaty on European Union)

COUNCIL DECISION

of 28 September 2000

establishing a procedure for amending Articles 40(4) and (5), 41(7) and 65(2) of the Convention
implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual abolition of checks at
common borders

(2000/586/JHA)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

(5)

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in partic-
ular Articles 31(b), 32 and 34 thereof,

Having regard to the initiative of the Grand Duchy of Luxem-
bourg (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),

Whereas:

(6)

(7)

(8)

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

the Hellenic Republic,

the Republic of Austria,

On 24 June 1997 the Governments of the Kingdom of
Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Federal Republic
the Kingdom of
of Germany,
Spain, the French Republic, the Italian Republic, the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of the Neth-
erlands,
the Portuguese
Republic, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of
Sweden agreed on a Protocol amending Articles 40, 41
and 65 of the Convention implementing the Schengen
Agreement of 14 June 1985, signed in Schengen on 19
June 1990 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Protocol’) by
providing for a simplified procedure to amend references
in those Articles to ‘officers’, ‘authorities’ and ‘competent
Ministries’.

On 1 May 1999, the date of entry into force of the
Treaty of Amsterdam, which provided, inter alia, for the
integration of the Schengen acquis into the framework of
the European Union, the Protocol had not entered into
force.

The Protocol does not form part of the Schengen acquis
as integrated into the European Union.

After the integration of the Schengen acquis into the
framework of the European Union, the Member States
can no longer modify the Convention signed in
Schengen on 19 June 1990 implementing the Schengen
Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual abolition of
checks at their common borders (hereinafter referred to
as ‘the Schengen Convention’).

‘authorities’

After the integration of the Schengen acquis into the
framework of the European Union, there is still a need
for a simplified procedure to amend the references to
‘officers’,
‘competent Ministries’,
and
whereby the Council would allow each Member State to
modify the reference to its ‘officers’,
‘authorities’ and
‘competent Ministries’ under the provisions of Articles
40(4) and (5), 41(7) and 65(2) of the Schengen Conven-
tion (as supplemented by the provisions of the Agree-
ments of accession to the Schengen Convention),
if
internal changes and reorganisations were to make the
existing reference no longer accurate, without requiring
the amendment of the references to be formally adopted
by the Council.

Any modification of
the aforementioned provisions
which do not result merely from internal changes or
reorganisations but purport to extend the powers under
the provisions of Articles 40 and 41 to other ‘officers’
and ‘authorities’ should be adopted in accordance with
the relevant provisions of the Treaty.

The United Kingdom will take part in this Decision, in
accordance with Article 8(2) of Council Decision 2000/
365/EC of 29 May 2000 concerning the request of the
United Kingdom to take part in some of the provisions
of the Schengen acquis (3) in so far as the Decision relates
to the provisions of the Schengen acquis listed in that
Decision.

This Decision further develops provisions for which
closer cooperation has been authorised under
the
Protocol annexed to the Treaty on European Union and
the Treaty establishing the European Community, inte-
grating the Schengen acquis into the framework of the
European Union, and which fall within one of the areas
covered by Article 1 of Council Decision 1999/437/EC
of 17 May 1999 on certain arrangements for
the
application of the Agreement concluded by the Council
of the European Union and the Republic of Iceland and
the Kingdom of Norway concerning the association of
those two States with the implementation, application
and development of the Schengen acquis (4),

(1) OJ C 131, 12.5.2000, p. 7.
(2) Opinion delivered on 14 June 2000 (not yet published in the Offi-

cial Journal).

(3) OJ L 131, 1.6.2000, p. 43.
(4) OJ L 176, 10.7.1999, p. 31.

L 248/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

3.10.2000

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

The amendment shall take effect on the day following

4.
that of its publication in the said Official Journal.

Article 1

Article 2

Each Member State may amend the references under the
1.
provisions of Articles 40(4) and (5), 41(7) and 65(2) of the
Schengen Convention to ‘officers’, ‘authorities’ and ‘competent
Ministries’ in respect of its officers, authorities or competent
Ministries, whenever, as a result of internal changes or reorga-
nisations, the existing references are no longer accurate.

2.
Any amendment made pursuant to paragraph 1 shall be
notified by the Member State concerned to the General Secre-
tariat of the Council, which shall disseminate the notification to
all members of the Council.

The Council shall ensure that any such amendment is

3.
published in the Official Journal.

The procedure set out in Article 1 shall apply also to amend-
ments which have already been made pursuant to Article 1.

Article 3

This Decision shall enter into force on the day following that
of its publication in the Official Journal.

Done at Brussels, 28 September 2000.

For the Council

The President

D. VAILLANT