COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL State of play and the possible ways forward as regards the situation of non-reciprocity with certain third countries in the area of visa policy (Follow-up of the Communication of 12 April)
Date: 2016-07-13
Institutions: Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission
Subjects: Brunei, Canada, EU relations, EU visa policy, United States, external border of the EU, foreign national, third country

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 13.7.2016  COM(2016) 481 final   COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL State of play and the possible ways forward as regards the situation of non-reciprocity with certain third countries in the area of visa policy  (Follow-up of the Communication of 12 April)  
 
 
I. 

INTRODUCTION 

On 12 April 2016, the Commission presented a Communication on the state of play and the 
possible way forward as regards the situation of non-reciprocity with certain third countries in 
the  area  of  visa  policy  ("the  April  Communication").  It  described  the  state  of  play  with  the 
third  countries  concerned  and  recalled  that  the  visa  reciprocity  mechanism  envisages  that  if 
the  third  country  concerned  has  not  lifted  the  visa  requirement  by  12  April  2016,  Council 
Regulation  (EC)  No  539/2001  of  15  March  2001  ("the  Regulation")  -  as  amended  by 
Regulation (EU) No 1289/2013 of 11 December 20131 - obliges the Commission to adopt a 
delegated act suspending for 12 months of the visa waiver for nationals of that third country. 
The Regulation also requires that the Commission takes into account the consequences of the 
suspension of the visa waiver for the external relations of the EU and its Member States. 

The  Communication  concluded  that  with  three  third  countries  -  Brunei,  Canada  and  the 
United  States  -  full  visa  reciprocity  had  not  been  achieved  by  12  April  2016  and  that  work 
should continue to achieve it. 

In line with the Better Regulation guidelines, the Commission assessed the consequences and 
impacts of the suspension of visa waiver and concluded that in addition to the impact on EU 
citizens and the difficulties in implementation, significant impacts in a wide range of policy 
areas/sectors should also be considered, notably the impact on the European Union's external 
relations with Canada and the United States in a year where important agreements in the trade 
area  are  at  a  crucial  stage  or  should  be  finalised.  It  also  concluded  that  it  is  reasonable  to 
expect a decrease in the number of travellers from Canada and the United States, and that this 
would lead to a considerable economic loss for the EU without achieving the objective of full 
visa reciprocity for all EU citizens. 

The  Commission  invited  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  to  urgently  launch 
discussions  and  to  take  a  position  not  later  than  12  July  2016  on  the  most  appropriate  way 
forward  in  the  light  of  the  assessment  of  the  consequences  of  the  suspension  of  the  visa 
waiver provided in the April Communication. 

The  present  Communication  takes  stock  of  the  progress  achieved  since  the  adoption  of  the 
April  Communication  in  discussions  with  Canada  and  the  United  States,  reports  on  the 
positions taken in response to the Communication and sets out the next steps. 

DEVELOPMENTS SINCE THE ADOPTION OF THE APRIL COMMUNICATION TO ACHIEVE 

II. 
FULL VISA RECIPROCITY 

Brunei (notified by Croatia)  

The  April  Communication  stated  that  while  full  visa  waiver  reciprocity  had  not  yet  been 
achieved  with  Brunei,  recent  contacts  had  provided  positive  signals.  On  12  April  2016,  in 
parallel  to  the  adoption  of  the  April  Communication,  Brunei  formally  lifted  the  visa 
requirement for Croatian citizens and started to grant 90 days visa-free stay for the citizens of 

1   Regulation  (EU)  No 1289/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  11 December  2013 
amending  Council  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, OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 74–80. 

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Liechtenstein.  This  was  officially  notified  on  13  April.  The  Commission  welcomes  that  the 
non-reciprocity case with Brunei had been resolved2. 

Canada (notified by Bulgaria and Romania) 

In  the  April  Communication,  the  Commission  stressed  the  need  to  push  for  full  visa 
reciprocity  and  urged  Canada  to  demonstrate  its  commitment  by  introducing  tangible 
measures to achieve full visa reciprocity for all 28 Member States of the European Union. To 
achieve  this  objective  a  number  of  high  level  meetings  with  Canada  at  political  level  have 
taken  place  in  the  last  months.  Presidents  Juncker  and  Tusk  discussed  the  matter  with 
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau in the margins of the G7 meeting in Japan on 27 May. The 
President of the European Parliament  Schulz and Romanian Prime Minister Cioloş had also 
met with Prime Minister Trudeau on 18 May and 15 June respectively. At Ministerial level, 
Commissioner Avramopoulos met with the Canadian Immigration Minister McCallum on 23 
May and High Representative/Vice-President Mogherini met with Canadian Foreign Minister 
Dion, Immigration Minister McCallum and Trade Minister Freeland on 8 June. 

The significance of the  visa reciprocity issue in  the perspective of the EU-Canada Strategic 
Partnership Agreement and in particular of the preparation of the signing  and ratification of 
the  EU-Canada  Comprehensive  Economic  and  Trade  Agreement  (CETA)  has  also  been 
emphasised at the highest political level by Bulgaria and Romania. Both Member States have 
also  argued  that  the  economic  benefits  that  would  follow  the  entry  into  force  of  the  CETA 
would be offset by the fact that Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, including businesses people 
and consumers would not be allowed to travel to Canada without a visa. 

In parallel,  at  technical  level,  in  order to  build confidence and to  allow Canadian experts to 
identify possible risks and specify options to mitigate such risks or concerns associated with 
lifting the visa requirement, a Canadian expert mission took place in Romania between 9 and 
15 June. Both sides gave positive feedback on the mission. A similar expert mission has been 
planned by the Canadian authorities to take place in Bulgaria between 21 and 27 July. 

Visa  reciprocity  was  also  discussed  at  the  Joint  Consultation  on  Migration  and  Asylum 
between representatives of the Canadian Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship 
Canada  and  the  European  Commission  on  28  June.  At  this  meeting,  the  Canadian  side 
explained  that  following  the  expert  missions,  the  Canadian  Minister  of  Immigration, 
Citizenship  and  Refugees  will  make  an  assessment  of  the  possibility  of  lifting  the  visa 
requirement for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens. 

As outlined in the April Communication, pending progress on full visa reciprocity, one of the 
elements  of  the  discussions  with  Canada  has  been  a  possibility  to  put  in  place  an  interim 
technical  solution  –  a  gradual  expansion  of  the  Electronic  Travel  Authorisation  (eTA)  to 
Bulgarian  and  Romanian  citizens3.  The  EU  objective  remains  full  visa  reciprocity  for  all 
Bulgarian and Romanian citizens. To this end, the Commission with the concerned Member 
States is exploring all solutions and options. In this context, the Canadian announcement of 28 
June 2016 to lift the visa requirement for Mexican citizens subject to certain conditions and 
requirements  as  of  1  December  2016  is  a  matter  to  be  further  discussed  with  the  Canadian 
authorities. 

2   See Daily News 14 April 2016. 
3   For  details:  Report  from  the  Commission  of  assessing  the  situation  of  non-reciprocity  in  the  area  of  visa 

policy (C(2015) 7455 final of 5.11.2015), p. 4. and COM(2016) 221 final. 

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The intensive work and constructive discussions prepared the ground for the Ministerial-level 
meeting with  Canada,  Bulgaria, Romania and the Commission  to  review the progress  made 
and  to  discuss  the  next  steps  towards  full  visa  reciprocity,  which  took  place  on  11  July  in 
Brussels. In this meeting, Canada undertook to inform in early autumn about the outcomes of 
the  assessments  and  timelines  for  lifting  the  visa  requirement,  including  on  the  necessary 
elements of cooperation with Bulgaria and Romania. 

Despite  the  fact  that  constructive  discussions  with  Canada  including  at  the  highest 
political level have intensified in the last months, Bulgarian and Romanian citizens are 
still  required  to  have  visas  in  order  to  travel  to  Canada.  The  Commission  notes  the 
commitment of the Canadian Government to continue working with the EU towards full 
visa reciprocity for all EU citizens. The Commission will therefore continue to push for 
full  visa  reciprocity  in  coordination  with  Bulgaria  and  Romania  to  accelerate  the 
delivery  of  results.  The  Commission  looks  forward  to  the  EU-Canada  Summit,  which 
will take place on 27 October 2016, as the occasion to confirm tangible progress on the 
lifting of the visa requirement for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens.  

United States (notified by Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania) 

In  the  April  Communication,  the  Commission  stressed  the  need  to  push  for  full  visa 
reciprocity  and  urged  the  United  States  to  demonstrate  its  commitment  by  introducing 
tangible measures to  achieve full visa reciprocity for  all 28 Member States of the European 
Union.  To  achieve  this  objective,  contacts  with  the  United  States  have  intensified  both  at 
technical and political level.  

On  15  April,  soon  after  the  adoption  of  the  April  Communication,  Commissioner 
Avramopoulos  discussed  this  matter  with  Secretary  of  Department  of  Homeland  Security 
(DHS) Johnson. In parallel, the EU Delegation in Washington regularly stressed the need to 
move towards full reciprocity in its outreach to Congress. 

At  the  EU-US  Justice  and  Home  Affairs  Senior  Ministerial  meeting  held  on  2  June,  visa 
reciprocity was discussed in detail. While the representatives of United States Administration 
explained  that  it  remains  committed  to  work  with  the  EU  and  the  five  Member  States 
concerned  to  achieve  full  visa  reciprocity,  it  noted  that  the  United  States  Congress  has  not 
moved  in  its  position  and  that  there  was  little  chance  of  evolution  before  the  forthcoming 
Presidential  and  Congressional  elections.  It  also  cited  security  concerns  as  a  reason  not  to 
expand the U.S. Visa Waiver Program to the five affected EU Member States.  

The  United  States  repeatedly  cautioned  against  any  EU  measures  that  could  have  adverse 
effects  beyond the issue of visa reciprocity.  It  stressed that imposing visas on United States 
citizens would certainly lead Congress to reintroduce a visa requirement for all EU citizens. 
Referring  to  the  ideas  put  forward  by  the  Commission  in  the  April  Communication  (i.e. 
extending  the  United  States  ESTA  to  some  categories  of  travellers),  the  United  States  side 
replied  that  the  current  legislation  does  not  allow  such  flexibility  and  also  excluded  the 
possibility  of  introducing  legislative  proposals  to  that  effect  in  the  near  future.  At  the  same 
time,  recognising  the  sensitivity  of  the  issue,  the  United  States  pointed  to  some  available 
facilitations regarding the visa application and issuing procedure. These concern the extension 
of  visas,  and  include  providing  certain  facilitations  to  visa  applicants  (i.e.  exemption  from 
being  fingerprinted  and  from  the  interview).  However,  these  elements  have  been  in  place 
already  for  some  time  and  cannot  be  considered  as  progress  in  terms  of  achieving  full  visa 
reciprocity.  

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In  the  United  States  Congress,  since  April,  there  has  been  no  progress  of  relevance  to  EU 
citizens  resulting  from  ongoing  United  States  legislative  initiatives,  notably  the  "Jobs 
Originating through Launching Travel Act of 20154" and the "Equal Protection in Travel Act 
of 20165".  

Visa  reciprocity  was  also  among  the  topics  raised  during  the  visit  of  a  delegation  of  the 
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament 
to Washington on 16-18 May.  

It should be noted that the United States Government Accountability Office issued a report on 
7  June  focusing  on  how  Visa  Waiver  Program  partner  countries  share  information  with  the 
United States regarding terrorist identity, criminal history and lost and stolen passports. The 
report notes that the United States was able to obtain information from Visa Waiver Program 
partner  countries  about  more  than  12,000  suspected  terrorists,  including  almost  5000 
previously unidentified by United States authorities. The Commission considers this exchange 
of  information  as  very  significant:  it  illustrates  that  the  Visa  Waiver  Program  not  only 
facilitates  the  life  of  millions  of  legitimate  transatlantic  travellers,  but  also  brings  important 
security benefits to the United States. The report also states that the exchange of information 
has increased exponentially over the last year. 

The  Commission  notes  that  this  was  also  underscored  by  Deputy  Secretary  for  Homeland 
Security Mayorkas and acting Counterterrorism Coordinator Siberell (Department of State) at 
the United States Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on 26 May6, where the recent 
achievements  of  the  EU  in  the  area  of  security,  such  as  the  EU  Passenger  Name  Records 
Directive  or  the  establishment  of  the  European  Counter  Terrorism  Centre  within  Europol, 
were also acknowledged.  

Despite  stepping  up  political  and  technical  contacts,  there  have  not  been  comparable 
indications of progress with the United States as those seen with Canada. During the last 
three  months,  the United States has not moved towards lifting  of the visa  requirement 
for Bulgarian, Croatian, Cypriot, Polish and Romanian citizens to travel to the United 
States.  The  Commission  will  therefore  continue  to  push  for  full  visa  reciprocity  in 
coordination with the five Member States concerned to accelerate delivery of results. In 
this respect, the Commission will use  all opportunities, including  the joint breakfast of 
EU Foreign Affairs Council and Secretary Kerry on 18 July and the next EU-US Justice 
and  Home  Affairs  Ministerial  and  senior  officials  meeting  foreseen  before  the  end  of 
2016 to explore the way ahead and all options or necessary actions to be taken to achieve 
this objective. 

III. 

POSITIONS TAKEN IN RESPONSE TO THE APRIL COMMUNICATION  

In  the  April  Communication,  the  Commission  invited  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council  to  urgently  launch  discussions  as  regards  the  current  reciprocity  mechanism  and  to 
take a position on the most appropriate way forward, in light of the assessment provided by 
the April Communication.  It  invited the two institutions to  inform  the Commission  on their 
respective positions not later than 12 July 2016. 

4   https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1401   
5   https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/4380/text 
6   http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/protecting-america-from-the-threat-of-isis 

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As  regards  the  European  Parliament,  no  plenary  discussion  with  a  view  to  taking  such  a 
position  took  place.  The  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Civil  Liberties,  Justice  and  Home 
Affairs (LIBE) sent a letter to the Commission on 7 June requesting the Commission to adopt 
the  delegated  acts  foreseen  by  the  Regulation  as  soon  as  possible.  The  letter  of  the  LIBE 
Chairman  considered  that  the  Commission  is  under  the  obligation  to  adopt  a  delegated  act 
pursuant to Article 1(4)(f) of the Regulation temporarily suspending the exemption from the 
visa  requirement  for  the  nationals  of  the  third  countries  concerned,  given  that  the  United 
States and Canada have not lifted the visa requirement within the period of 24 months from 
the  notification  of  non-reciprocity  by  concerned  EU  Member  States.  The  letter  asks  the 
Commission to respect this legal obligation and adopt the necessary delegated acts as soon as 
possible, recalling that according to  Article 265  TFEU action before the  Court of Justice of 
the European Union may be brought by an EU institution should the Commission fail to act. 

The Council did not put this matter on the agenda of the Council of Ministers and neither the 
Presidency  nor  the  Council  expressed  any  position  on  the  current  reciprocity  mechanism  in 
the light of the assessment provided by the Communication.  

Among Member States, Bulgaria and Romania have been the most vocal in communicating 
their  position  to  the  Commission  and  to  the  two  third  countries  concerned,  especially  to 
Canada at the highest political level.  

Other stakeholders  

Some  stakeholders  have  also  expressed  their  views  on  this  matter.  The  International  Air 
Transport  Association  (IATA),  which  gathers  around  260  airlines  representing  83%  of 
global air traffic, has referred to the economic consequences of introducing new requirements 
for travellers from Canada and the United States to the EU7. IATA referred to data from the 
European Travel Commission, according to which more than 30 million Canadian and United 
States tourists visit Europe each year, spending over USD 54 billion in 2014. Furthermore, 31 
representatives of the tourism industry addressed a joint letter to the LIBE Committee of the 
European Parliament stating that the suspension of the visa waiver for Canadian and United 
States citizens would reverse the positive trends in tourism flows from the United States and 
Canada,  deprive  the  European  travel  and  tourism  sector  of  essential  revenue  and  put 
thousands of European jobs at stake8.  

IV. CONCLUSIONS 

The Commission welcomes the achievement of full visa reciprocity with Brunei. 

As  regards  Canada,  the  Commission  notes  that  despite  the  intensified  and  constructive 
discussions  and  work  with  the  Canadian  authorities  to  progress  on  achieving  full  visa 
reciprocity  in  the  past  three  months,  Bulgarian  and  Romanian  citizens  are  still  required  to 
have visas to travel to Canada. The Commission will therefore continue to push for full visa 
reciprocity in coordination with Bulgaria and Romania to accelerate the delivery of results. In 
this  regard,  at  the  11  July  Ministerial  meeting  in  Brussels,  Canada  undertook  to  inform  in 
early  autumn  about  the  outcomes  of  the  assessments  and  timelines  for  lifting  the  visa 
requirement, including on the necessary elements of cooperation with Bulgaria and Romania. 
The  Commission  looks  forward  to  the  EU-Canada  Summit,  which  will  take  place  on  27-28 
October  2016,  as  the  occasion  to  confirm  tangible  progress  on  the  lifting  of  the  visa 
requirement for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens. 

7   http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2016-06-02-07.aspx 
8   http://www.tourismmanifesto.eu/#!blank/c20x9 

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As  regards  the  United  States,  the  Commission  notes  that  during  the  last  three  months  the 
United States has not moved towards lifting of the visa requirement for  Bulgarian, Croatian, 
Cypriot,  Polish  and  Romanian  citizens  to  travel  to  the  United  States.  The  Commission  will 
therefore as outlined earlier use all opportunities to continue to push for full visa reciprocity in 
coordination with the five Member States concerned to accelerate delivery of results. 

The  Commission  will  work  closely  with  both  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  to 
ensure that the European Union speaks with one voice on this important matter and will report 
on the further progress made before the end of the year.  

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