COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL defining the position of the Commission following the European Parliament resolution of 2 March 2017 on obligations of the Commission in the field of visa reciprocity and reporting on the progress achieved
Date: 2017-05-02
Institutions: Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission
Subjects: Canada, EU relations, EU visa policy, United States, external border of the EU, foreign national, third country

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 2.5.2017  COM(2017) 227 final   COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL defining the position of the Commission following the European Parliament resolution of 2 March 2017 on obligations of the Commission in the field of visa reciprocity and reporting on the progress achieved  
 
 
I. 

INTRODUCTION 

On 12 April 2016, the Commission presented a Communication on the state of play and the 
possible ways forward as regards the situation of non-reciprocity with certain third countries 
in the area of visa policy1. In that Communication it was noted that with the active support of 
the Commission, the vast majority of the non-reciprocity cases notified as regards eight third 
countries  had  been  solved.  However,  if  the  third  country  concerned  had  not  lifted  the  visa 
requirement by 12 April 2016, Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 of 15 March 2001  as 
amended by the European Parliament and Council by Regulation (EU) No 1289/2013 of 11 
December 20132 obliges the Commission to adopt a delegated act suspending for 12 months 
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.  That  Communication  assessed  the 
consequences and impacts of the suspension of the visa waiver for EU citizens and businesses 
as well as nationals of the third countries concerned. In that Communication the Commission 
also  invited  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  to  discuss  the  most  appropriate  way 
forward. 
The  Commission  then  presented  two  follow-up  Communications  in  July3  and  December4 
2016. The December follow-up Communication welcomed that Canada had provided a clear 
timeline for achieving full visa reciprocity for all EU citizens. As regards the United States, 
the  Commission  committed  to  re-launching  without  delay  its  efforts  with  the  new 
Administration to push for full visa reciprocity in coordination with the five Member States 
concerned  with  the  aim  to  agree  in  the  first  half  of  2017  on  a  way  forward  to  achieve  this 
objective. In addition, the Commission committed to continuing to 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 to report on further progress before the end of June 2017. 

This  Communication  defines  the  position  of  the  Commission  in  the  sense  of  Article  265 
TFEU  following  the  European  Parliament  Resolution  of  2  March  on  'obligations  of  the 
Commission  in  the  field  of  visa  reciprocity  in  accordance  with  Article  1(4)  of  Regulation 
(EC)  No  539/2001'5  and,  as  a  follow-up  to  the  earlier  Communications,  takes  stock  of  the 
developments in this area since December 2016. 

II. 

POSITIONS TAKEN IN RESPONSE TO THE COMMUNICATIONS 

On  2  March  2017  the  European  Parliament  adopted  a  non-legislative  Resolution  on 
'obligations of the Commission in the field of visa reciprocity in accordance with Article 1(4) 
of Regulation (EC) No 539/2001'. In the Resolution, the European Parliament considers that 
the  Commission  is  legally  obliged  to  adopt  a  delegated  act  temporarily  suspending  the 
exemption from the visa requirement for nationals of third countries which have not lifted the 
visa  requirement  for  citizens  of  certain  Member  States  by  the  deadline  of  12  April  2016.  It 
also  calls  on  the  Commission,  on  the  basis  of  Article  265  TFEU,  to  adopt  the  required 
delegated act within two months from the date of adoption of the Resolution at the latest. 

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COM(2016) 221 final of 12 April 2016. 
Regulation (EU) No 1289/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 
amending  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  539/2001  of  15  March  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 of 11.12.2013, p. 74. 
COM(2016) 481 final of 12 July 2016. 
COM(2016) 816 final of 21 December 2016. 
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2017-
0060+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN. 

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As previously reported, also in the past four months, the Council has not discussed the matter. 

III.   DEVELOPMENTS AND THE WAY FORWARD 

Canada (notified by Bulgaria and Romania) 

As  regards  Canada,  the  December  follow-up  Communication  reported  significant  progress. 
Ahead of the 16th EU-Canada Summit held on 30 October 2016 in Brussels, Canada provided 
a clear timeline for achieving full visa reciprocity. The Canadian government announced the 
lifting  of  the  visa  requirement  from  1  May  2017  for  Bulgarian  and  Romanian  citizens  who 
have  held  a  Canadian  temporary  resident  visa  in  the  past  10  years  or  who  currently  hold  a 
valid United States non-immigrant visa. As a second step, Canada also committed to granting 
visa-free access to all Bulgarian and Romanian citizens from 1 December 2017.  

The Commission welcomes the fact that, in accordance with its commitment, on 1 May 2017 
Canada  lifted  the  visa  requirement  for  the  above  mentioned  categories  of  Bulgarian  and 
Romanian nationals. These travellers are now able to travel to or transit through Canada with 
an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) instead of a visa. The visa lifting was preceeded by 
extensive  political  and  technical  contacts  between  the  Commission,  Canada  and  the 
governments  of  Bulgaria  and  Romania,  as  well  as  an  information  campaign  for  citizens  of 
those  countries  and  consultations  with  major  travel  agencies  and  airlines  in  both  Member 
States. 

An update on the state of play of the implementation of the lifting of the visa requirement was 
provided by Canada during the Joint Consultations on Migration and Asylum held on 28 April 
2017  in  Brussels  between  the  Commission  and  Immigration,  Refugees  and  Citizenship 
Canada. 

The  Commission  will  remain  in  close  contact  with  Bulgaria,  Romania  and  Canada,  both  at 
technical  and  political  level,  to  ensure  that  full  visa  reciprocity  is  achieved  by  1  December 
2017. 

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

The December follow-up Communication noted that the United States had not moved towards 
lifting of the visa requirement for Bulgarian, Croatian, Cypriot, Polish and Romanian citizens. 
Therefore,  the  Commission  committed  to  re-launching  its  efforts  to  push  for  full  visa 
reciprocity,  in  close  coordination  with  the  five  Member  States  concerned  with  the  aim  to 
agree in the first half of 2017 on a way forward to achieve this objective. 

During the last months, political and technical contacts have been stepped up. Commissioner 
Avramopoulos reiterated the EU call for full visa reciprocity at his meeting with Secretary for 
Homeland  Security  Kelly  held  in  Washington  on  8  February  2017.  Commissioner 
Avramopoulos  also  had  a  constructive  follow-up  discussion  with  interlocutors  from  the 
United States Department of State. The United States interlocutors agreed to launch a result-
oriented process towards bringing the five Member States into the Visa Waiver Program. 

In  addition,  Commissioner  Avramopoulos  organised  a  meeting  with  Ministers  of  the  five 
Member  States  concerned  to  discuss  a  way  forward  towards  achieving  full  visa  reciprocity 
with  the  United  States.  At  the  meeting,  Ministers  committed  to  working  jointly  in  a 
constructive  and  positive  spirit,  in  close  coordination  with  the  Commission  and  the  United 
States,  to  achieve  full  visa  reciprocity  as  soon  as  possible, including  searching  for  mutually 
acceptable  interim  steps.  The  Commissioner  discussed  with  Ministers  steps  that  could  be 

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taken  on  the  EU  side  to  achieve  full  visa  reciprocity  for  the  mutual  benefit  of  the  EU  and 
United States' citizens, as well as for close strategic relations more widely.  

At technical level, visa reciprocity was also discussed during the EU-U.S. Justice and Home 
Affairs Senior Officials' Meeting held in Malta on 1-2 March 2017, where the United States 
reconfirmed  its  commitment  to  admit  the  five  Member  States  to  the  Visa  Waiver  Program. 
However, the United States also underlined that these Member States do not yet meet all the 
requirements  as  laid  down  in  the  United  States'  legislation.  The  United  States  side  also 
indicated that the mere adoption by the Commission of a delegated act on the suspension of 
the  visa  waiver  for  United  States'  citizens,  would  immediately  result  in  the  United  States 
adopting  retaliatory  measures,  by  reintroducing  the  visa  requirement  for  all  EU  citizens.  It 
was also recalled that the Visa Waiver Program as implemented under the current legislation 
does not allow admitting new countries unless they meet all requirements. 

In order to establish an overview of the requirements still to be fulfilled by the five Member 
States, the Commission launched an exercise to collect information from the Member States 
and the United States.  

The latest tripartite meeting with the United States took place on 25 April 2017. Its objective 
was  to  assess  the  state  of  play  regarding  the  Visa  Waiver  Program  requirements  and  to 
accelerate the work on the outstanding ones. While the main obstacle for four Member States 
remains  the  3%  visa  refusal  rate6  threshold  which  is  set  out  in  the  U.S.  Immigration  and 
Nationality Act, other requirements such as reporting to the Interpol Stolen and Lost Travel 
Documents’  database  on  a  daily  basis  and  the  signature  and  full  implementation  of  the 
Preventing and Combatting Serious Crime agreement7 were still not in place for some of the 
Member  States  concerned.  During  the  meeting  it  was  agreed  with  the  United  States  to 
accelerate  the  work  on  the  outstanding  Visa  Waiver  Program  requirements  in  the  coming 
weeks. 

In  the  coming  weeks,  the  Commission  in  close  cooperation  with  the  five  Member  States 
concerned  will  work  with  the  United  States  on  the  consolidation  of  a  way  forward,  to  be 
endorsed in a Joint Statement by the EU-U.S. Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial Meeting 
in June 2017. High-level contacts and meetings, e.g. the NATO Summit and the G7 Summit 
in May, the EU-U.S. Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial Meeting in June, the G20 Summit 
in July and the Justice and Home Affairs Senior Officials' Meeting in September will provide 
the opportunities and occasions to ensure progress. 

IV.   CONCLUSION 

The Commission remains committed to achieving full visa reciprocity for all Member States 
as a matter of priority.  

The Commission welcomes the fact that, in line with its commitment, on 1 May 2017 Canada 
lifted  the  visa  requirement  for  Bulgarian  and  Romanian  citizens  who  have  held  a  Canadian 
temporary resident visa in the past 10 years or who currently hold a valid United States non-

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Among  others,  at  the  tripartite  meeting,  the  United  States  presented  visa  refusal  statistics  for  2016: 
Bulgaria:  16.86%  (2015:17.26%);  Croatia:  6.78%  (2015:  5.29%);  Cyprus:  2.03%  (2015:  3.53%); 
Poland: 5.37% (2015: 6.37%); Romania: 11.43% (2015: 11.16%). While Cyprus complied with the 3% 
visa refusal rate requirement, the United States signalled that they are looking the totality of all relevant 
circumstances and the division of the island remains a particular challenge. 
PCSC  Agreement  on  enhancing  law  enforcement  cooperation  in  order  to  prevent  and  combat  serious 
crime. 

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immigrant  visa.  The  Commission  will  continue  to  engage  with  Bulgaria,  Romania  and 
Canada, to ensure that the 1 December 2017 deadline for achieving full visa reciprocity will 
also be met.  

As regards the United States, the Commission notes the result-oriented process that has been 
launched. The Commission considers that this process, which the Commission is handling in 
close  cooperation  with  the  five  Member  States  concerned,  is  as  things  stand,  the  most 
appropriate  way  forward.  This  will  accelerate  progress  if  all  parties  are  committed  to  this 
process  and  work  constructively.  In  this  context,  it  is  essential  to  ensure  that  the  European 
Union speaks with one voice on this important matter.   

The Commission therefore considers, in particular in view of the progress achieved during the 
last year and the ongoing work, that the adoption of a delegated act temporarily suspending 
the exemption from the visa requirement for nationals of Canada and the United States would 
be counterproductive at this moment and it would not serve to achieve the objective of visa-
free travel for all EU citizens.  

The  Commission  will  continue  to  work  closely  with  both  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council to achieve full visa reciprocity and report on the further developments before the end 
of December 2017. 

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