Activites

• 1999/05/20 Final act published in Official Journal
• #2174
• 1999/04/29 Council Meeting
• 1999/04/29 End of procedure in Parliament
• 1999/04/29 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• 1999/03/23 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0210/1999 summary

    The Parliament adopted the Draft Joint Action regarding the detection of forged visas subject to some amendments. The Rapporteur was Mr. Klaus-Heiner LEHNE (EPP, D). The amendments covered the following : - the provision of training for staff and of state of the art equipment for the detection of forged documents; - Member States to make an inventory of their visa-issuing authorities to gain an overview of the potential risk of false and falsified visas in the relevant visa departments. - criminal proceedings envisaged for anyone involved in the falsification and/or counterfeiting of passports to which visas are to be affixed. - the Commission shall forward its report on the future of the collection, transfer and processing of data within the framework of Title IIIA of the Treaty of Amsterdam to the Council and the European Parliament. - three months at the latest after the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam or at least six months before the Joint Action expires, whichever shall be the earlier, the Commission shall submit a proposal for an action to replace this joint action. �

• 1999/03/16 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0112/1999
• 1999/02/24 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1999/01/15 Legislative proposal published
  • 05271/1998 summary

    OBJECTIVE: to combat counterfeit travel documents of third-country nationals by providing for a uniform level of equipment and detection techniques in the visa departments of diplomatic representations and in the offices of authorities in the Member States dealing with the issue or extension of visas. CONTENT: in order to achieve more efficient prevention of document abuse by third-country nationals, this draft joint action, based on Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union, proposes a series of preventive measures aimed at establishing uniform levels of expertise and equipment for detecting and identifying forged documents. Member States are therefore requested to step up their measures for detecting forged documents, mainly by ensuring that the staff responsible for issuing the documents in question is able to detect forged documents using suitable techniques and applying the uniform level of detection described in the joint common action. This uniform system involves applying different measures, depending on the level of risk inherent in the documents identified. Provision is made for three levels of risk (low, intermediate or high risk) and the draft joint action describes the level of training required for staff and the ?ad hoc? material to be provided for detecting forged documents. Member States will need to decide whether to equip the authorities responsible in the light of these basic uniform provisions and on the basis of the amount of traffic in forged documents identified. The decisive factor on which the decision is based will not be the number of visas produced or the size of the office or diplomatic representation in question but the level of risk of abuse occurring during the visa procedure.�

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: 05271/1998
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0112/1999
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0210/1999

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)