Notification by the Republic of Lithuania concerning visa reciprocity
Date: 2005-10-11
Institutions: Lithuania
Subjects: Australia, Brunei, Canada, EU national, EU visa policy, Lithuania, United States, equal treatment, rights of aliens

C 251/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

11.10.2005

The Permanent Representation of the Republic of Latvia to the EU avails itself of this opportunity to renew
to the Secretariat General of the Council of the European Union assurances of its highest consideration.

(1) This notification is published in conformity with Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 851/2005 of 2 June 2005
(OJ L 141, 4.6.2005, p. 3) amending Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 of 15 March 2001 (OJ L 81, 21.3.2001, p. 1).

Notification by the Republic of Latvia concerning visa reciprocity (1)

(2005/C 251/11)

The Permanent Representation of the Republic of Latvia to the EU presents its compliments to the Secre-
tariat General of the Council of the European Union and has the honour to bring to their attention the
following issue.

Becoming a Member State of the European Union, Latvia unilaterally introduced visa-free regime for the
citizens of Australia in accordance with EU Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 listing the third coun-
tries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose
nationals are exempt from that requirement.

Pursuant
to Article 2 of EU Council Regulation (EC) No 851/2005 amending Regulation (EC) No
539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the
external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement as regards the reciprocity
mechanism, Latvia would like to notify the Council and the Commission that Australia continue to apply
unilateral visa regime to the citizens of the Republic of Latvia.

Taking into consideration the abovementioned and in accordance with the solidarity mechanism provided
by Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 and Regulation (EC) No 851/2005 amending Regulation (EC) No
539/2001 for achieving full reciprocity in respect to all Member States, Latvia believes that appropriate
measures have to be taken in order to assure that all EU citizens may enter the territory of Australia under
equal conditions.

The Permanent Representation of the Republic of Latvia to the EU avails itself of this opportunity to renew
to the Secretariat General of the Council of the European Union assurances of its highest consideration.

(1) This notification is published in conformity with Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 851/2005 of 2 June 2005
(OJ L 141, 4.6.2005, p. 3) amending Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 of 15 March 2001 (OJ L 81, 21.3.2001, p. 1).

Notification by the Republic of Lithuania concerning visa reciprocity (1)

(2005/C 251/12)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania presents its compliments to the Council of the
European Union and to the European Commission and has the honour to notify that having regard to
Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 851/2005 from 2 June 2005 amending Regulation (EC) No
539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the
external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement as regards the reciprocity
mechanism, the citizens of the Republic of Lithuania are subject to a visa requirement when entering the
following countries, listed in Annex II of Regulation (EC) No 539/2001:

11.10.2005

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 251/9

1. Australia;

2. Brunei;

3. Canada;

4. United States of America;

5. Brazil (The Republic of Lithuania has signed the bilateral agreement on the waiver of visa requirement
with Brazil, which did not come into force (Diplomatic Note of the Republic of Lithuania No
4005/2003 from 19 August 2093) — no official notification from Brazil).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the
Council of the European Union and to the European Commission the assurance of its highest considera-
tion.

(1) This notification is published in conformity with Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 851/2005 of 2 June 2005
(OJ L 141, 4.6.2005, p. 3) amending Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 of 15 March 2001 (OJ L 81, 21.3.2001, p. 1).

Notification by Greece concerning visa reciprocity (1)

(2005/C 251/13)

Sir,

Following the entry into force of Council Regulation (EC) No 851/2005, which amends Regulation (EC) No
539/2001 and establishes a reciprocity mechanism for cases where third countries unilaterally impose a
visa requirement on Community citizens, and pursuant to Article 2 of that Regulation, we wish to inform
the Council of the European Union of the continuing unfavourable and discriminatory treatment of Greek
citizens by the following countries as regards visas:

— United States of America: unilaterally imposes a visa requirement on Greek citizens.

— Australia: requires all Community citizens (and consequently also Greek citizens), before their entry
into the country, to hold an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) ‘quasi visa’, which is the equivalent of a
visa. The introduction on 1 July 2005 of a new system for issuing entry visas valid for up to 12
months to Greek citizens on-line, via the Internet, as an alternative, does not fundamentally alter the
issue of discriminatory treatment.

— Brunei: unilaterally imposes a visa requirement on Greek citizens, whereas citizens of the majority of
the ‘old’ Member States are exempt from a visa requirement for a stay of between 14 and 90 days.

— Malaysia: holders of Greek passports (like Portuguese citizens) are exempt from the visa requirement
only in respect of stays of up to one month, whereas all other Community citizens are exempt for
stays of three months.

A copy of this letter is being sent to the Director-General of the Justice and Home Affairs DG of the Euro-
pean Commission, Mr Jonathan Faull.

[Complimentary close]

(1) This notification is published in conformity with Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 851/2005 of 2 June 2005
(OJ L 141, 4.6.2005, p. 3) amending Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 of 15 March 2001 (OJ L 81, 21.3.2001, p. 1).