Proposal for a Council Regulation on a uniform format for forms for affixing the visa issued by Member States to persons holding travel documents which are not recognised by the Member State drawing up the form
Date: 2001-03-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU national, European standard, admission of aliens, confidentiality, identity document, technical specification

26.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 180 E/301

Proposal for a Council Regulation on a uniform format for forms for affixing the visa issued by
Member States to persons holding travel documents which are not recognised by the Member
State drawing up the form

(2001/C 180 E/28)

(Text with EEA relevance)

COM(2001) 157 final (cid:151) 2001/0081(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 22 March 2001)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
iii) thereof,
Community, and in particular Article 62, 2), b),

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Member State should communicate the name of
the
competent body to the Commission and the other
Member States.

it

(6) With regard to the personal data to be entered on the
uniform formats,
is necessary to ensure compliance
with Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and
of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of
individuals with regard to the processing of personal data
and on the free movement of such data (2).

Whereas:

(1) The harmonisation of visa policy is an important measure
in relation to establishing progressively an area of freedom,
security and justice, specifically as regards border crossing.

(2) The forms for affixing visas issued to persons holding travel
documents which are not recognised by the Member State
drawing up the form do not currently correspond to the
required security standards. For this reason, it is necessary
to harmonise the format for such forms in order to render
them more secure.

the necessary
(3) This uniform format must contain all
information and meet high technical
in
standards,
particular as regards safeguards against counterfeiting and
falsification; they must also be suited to use by all Member
States
recognisable harmonised
security features which are clearly visible to the naked eye.

and bear universally

(4) This Regulation only lays down the description of

the
model for the uniform format; this needs to be supple-
mented by further technical specifications which are to
remain secret in order to prevent counterfeiting and falsifi-
include personal data or
cations and which may not
references to such data. Powers to adopt such technical
specifications should be conferred to the Commission,
who shall be assisted by the Committee established by
Article 6 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 of 29
May 1995 laying down a uniform format for visas (1).

(7) The present Regulation constitutes

in relation to the
implementation of the Agreement on the association of
the Schengen
Norway and Iceland a development of
integrating the
acquis
Schengen acquis into the framework of
the European
Union.

in the sense of

the Protocol

(8) 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 of
28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise
of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (3),
they should be adopted by use of the regulatory procedure
provided for in Article 5 of that decision,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

1.
For the purposes of this Regulation, (cid:145)form for affixing a
visa(cid:146) shall mean the document issued by the authorities of a
Member State to the holder of a travel document which is not
recognised by that Member State, to which its competent auth-
orities affix a visa.

The form for affixing a visa shall correspond to the model

2.
set out in the annex.

(5) To ensure that the information referred to is not made
available to more persons than necessary, each Member
State should designate a single body having responsibility
for printing the uniform format, with Member States
if need be; each
remaining free to change the body,

3. Where the holder of a form for affixing a visa is accom-
panied by his or her dependant(s), it shall be for each Member
State to decide whether separate visa sheets should be issued to
the principal and each of their dependant(s).

(1) OJ L 164, 14.7.1995, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31.
(3) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

C 180 E/302

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

26.6.2001

Article 2

personal data and on the free movement of such data (1).

The technical specifications for the uniform format for forms
for affixing the visa and the specifications relating to the
following shall be
established in compliance with the
procedure referred to in Article 5 (2):

a) 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 format for affixing the

visa;

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 the
bodies designated by the Member States as responsible for
the printing and to persons duly authorised by a Member
State or the Commission.

Each Member State shall designate one body having responsi-
bility for printing the uniform format
It shall
communicate the name of that body to the Commission and
the other Member States. The same body may be designated by
two or more Member States. Each Member State shall be
entitled to change its designated body.
inform the
Commission and the other Member States accordingly.

for forms.

It shall

Article 4

The format, production and use of the uniform format for
forms shall comply with Directive 95/46/EC of the European
Parliament and the Council of 24 October 1995 on the
individuals with regard to the processing of
protection of

Without prejudice to these rules, persons to whom the uniform
format for forms is issued shall have the right to verify the
personal particulars contained in the uniform format for forms
and, where appropriate, to ask for any corrections or deletions
to be made.

No information in machine-readable form shall be given on the
uniform format for forms.

Article 5

The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee

1.
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/EC
shall apply, in compliance with Article 7 thereof.

The period provided for in Article 5 (6) of Decision

3.
1999/468/EC shall be one month.

Article 6

The uniform format for form for affixing a visa set out in
Article 1 shall be used by the Member States no later than 2
years after the adoption of the measures referred to in Article
2(a). However, the validity of authorisations granted already
and issued on another format shall not be affected by the
introduction of
for affixing the visas,
the uniform format
unless the Member State concerned decides otherwise.

Article 7

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 EC
Treaty.

(1) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31.

26.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 180 E/303

ANNEX

Name of Member State
Nom de l’(cid:201)tat membre

Form for affixing a visa
Formulaire pour apposer le visa

No:

..................

Issuing authority:
AutoritØ de dØlivrance:

........................................................................

........................................................................

........................................................................

Stamp
Tampon

Date: ..........................................................
Date:

..................................................................
Signature
Signature

Enter the holder’s surname, forename(s), date of birth and passport number if
the passport number is not indicated in the machine-readable area.
Indiquez le nom, prØnom, date de naissance du titulaire et le No du passeport, si
ce n’est pas indiquØ dans la zone lisible (cid:224) la machine.

.........................................................................................................................................................................................

VISA sticker

The printed text shall appear in English and French. The issuing Member State may add other language(s). However, the
words (cid:145)Form for affixing a visa(cid:146) and (cid:145)Visa sticker(cid:146), the name of the issuing Member State and the instructions may appear
in any language(s).