Council Regulation (EC) No 2414/2001 of 7 December 2001 amending Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders of Member States and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement
Date: 2001-12-07
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU visa policy, Schengen Agreement, external border of the EU, foreign national, third country

12.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 327/1

I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2414/2001

of 7 December 2001

amending Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in
possession of visas when crossing the external borders of Member States and those whose
nationals are exempt from that requirement

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

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

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

(5)

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (1),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

includes Romania
Regulation (EEC) No 539/2001 (2)
among the third countries whose nationals are exempted
from visa requirements, but makes the application of the
visa exemption to Romanian nationals conditional on a
decision to be taken at a later stage by the Council. That
decision is to be taken on the basis of a report which the
Commission was to present to the Council by 30 June
2001 at the latest and which was to be accompanied by
any recommendations that might be appropriate.

In its report of 29 June 2001, the Commission notes the
undeniable progress made by Romania as regards illegal
immigration from its country,
its visa policy and the
controls at its borders. The Commission also sets out the
commitments entered into by Romania in this field. The
Commission concludes by recommending to the Council
that Romanian nationals be exempted from the visa
requirement as from 1 January 2002.

In order to apply the visa exemption to Romanian
nationals, the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 539/
2001 which provisionally maintain the visa requirement
should be deleted.

Pursuant to Article 1 of the Protocol on the position of
the United Kingdom and Ireland, annexed to the Treaty
on European Union and to the Treaty establishing the

(1) Opinion delivered on 29 November 2001 (not yet published in the

Official Journal).

(2) OJ L 81, 21.3.2001, p. 1.

European Community, Ireland and the United Kingdom
are not participating in the adoption of this Regulation.
Consequently, without prejudice to Article 4 of that
Protocol, the provisions of this Regulation do not apply
to Ireland or to the United Kingdom.

As regards the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of
Norway, this Decision constitutes a development of the
provisions of the Schengen acquis falling within the area
referred to in Article 1(B) 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 (3),

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 is hereby amended as follows

1. The twelfth recital shall be replaced by the following:

‘(12) This Regulation provides for full harmonisation as
regards the third countries whose nationals are subject
to the visa requirement for the crossing of Member
States' external borders and those whose nationals are
exempt from that requirement.’

2. Article 1(2) shall be replaced by the following:

‘Nationals of third countries on the list in Annex II shall be
exempt from the requirement set out in paragraph 1 for
stays of no more than three months in all.’

(3) OJ L 176, 10.7.1999, p. 31.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

12.12.2001

3. Article 8 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 8

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the Official
Journal of the European Communities.’

4. The following shall be deleted from Annex II:

— the asterisk against Romania;
— the footnote referring to Article 8(2).

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th 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 the Member States in
accordance with the Treaty establishing the European Community.

Done at Brussels, 7 December 2001.

For the Council

The President

M. VERWILGHEN