Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common Position of the Council on the adoption of a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual abolition of checks at common borders as regards access to the Schengen Information System by the services in the Member States responsible for issuing registration certificates for vehicles.
Date: 2005-01-10
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU police cooperation, Schengen Agreement, Schengen Information System, border control, internal border of the EU, judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU, vehicle registration

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 10.1.2005 
COM(2005) 3 final 

2003/0198 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

 concerning the 

common Position of the Council on the adoption of a proposal for a Regulation of the 
European Parliament and of the Council amending the Convention implementing the 
Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual abolition of checks at common 
borders as regards access to the Schengen Information System by the services in the 
Member States responsible for issuing registration certificates for vehicles. 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
  
 
 
2003/0198 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

 concerning the 

common Position of the Council on the adoption of a proposal for a Regulation of the 
European Parliament and of the Council amending the Convention implementing the 
Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual abolition of checks at common 
borders as regards access to the Schengen Information System by the services in the 
Member States responsible for issuing registration certificates for vehicles. 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council 
(document COM(2003) 510 rev 1 – 2003/0198 COD – rev 1): 

03 September 2003 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee:  

25 February 2004 

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: 

01 April 2004 

Date of adoption of the common position: 

22 December 2004 

2. 

(1) 

(2) 

INTRODUCTION 

On  3  September  2003,  the  Commission  forwarded  to  the  Council  a  Proposal  for  a 
Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the Convention 
implementing  the  Schengen  Agreement  of  14 June 1985  on  the  gradual  abolition  of 
checks at common borders as regards access to the Schengen Information System by 
the  services  in  the  Member  States  responsible  for  issuing  registration  certificates  for 
vehicles. 

The  general  objective  of  the  proposal  is  to  amend  the  Schengen  Convention  to 
improve  co-operation  between  Member  States  and  as  a  result  the  functioning  of  the 
internal market. The specific objectives are as follows: In the first place this proposal 
contributes  to  the  realisation  of  the  common  transport  policy  by  providing  Member 
States  with  an  additional  operational  means  to  assist  each  with  re-registration  of 
vehicles and thus to facilitate the mutual recognition of vehicle registration certificates 
issued  by  another  Member  State.  In  the  second  place  this  proposal  signifies  a 
development of the Schengen acquis in the sense of Council Decision 1999/436/EC1. 

1 

Council Decision 1999/436/EC of 20 May 1999 determining, in conformity with the relevant provisions 
of the Treaty establishing the European Community and the Treaty on European Union, the legal basis 
for each of the provisions or decisions which constitute the acquis OJ L 176 of 10.7.1999 page 17-30. 

EN 

2 

   EN 

 
 
 
                                                 
It  is  a  concrete  contribution  to  a  series  of  other  initiatives  developing  the  Schengen 
acquis  aiming  at  augmenting  the  functionalities  of  the  SIS.  In  the  third  place  the 
proposal will contribute to the achievement of the goals formulated by the European 
Council of Tampere, especially the objective mentioned under Chapter IX “Stepping 
up  co-operation  against  crime”,  in  section  C  “A  union-wide  fight  against  crime”, 
paragraph  43  “Maximum  benefit  should  be  derived  from  co-operation  between 
Member  States’  authorities  when  investigating  cross-border  crime  in  any  Member 
State”. 

3. 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

AMENDMENTS 

The Parliament delivered its Opinion on 1 April 2004, proposing 10 amendments2.  

All  amendments  proposed  by  the  Parliament  and  acceptable  to  the  Commission 
(amendments nr. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7) have been integrated in the text. Amendment 8 has 
also been taken up in the common position.  

The other amendments (amendments 4, 10 and 11) which were not acceptable to the 
Commission, have not been included in the common position because it is considered 
that the current draft Regulation does not provide the correct and sufficient legal basis 
for these provisions.  

Further  amendments  introduced  by  the  Council  are  acceptable  to  the  Commission, 
notably the amendments of “or invalidated” to recital (6); of recitals (7) and (15); of 
“or  invalidated”  to  Article  1,  article  102a  (1)  (c);  of  “and  to  pass  them  on  to  those 
services” to Article 1, article 102a (2); and of paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 to Article 2. 

4. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The  common  position  was  formally  adopted  by  the  Council  on  22  December  2004  by 

unanimity. The Commission supports the common position. 

2 

The  outcome  of  the  Parliament's  first  reading  is  set  out  in  document  7956/04  CODEC  485  SIRIS  49 
COMIX 231. 

EN 

3 

   EN