PURPOSE: to codify Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the
European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Community
Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders
(Schengen Borders Code).
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament
and of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European
Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative
procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the
European Parliament and of the Council has been substantially
amended several times. It is recalled that on 1 April 1987 the
Commission decided to instruct its staff that all acts should be
codified after no more than ten amendments, stressing that this is
a minimum requirement. The Conclusions of the Presidency of the
December 1992 Edinburgh European Council confirmed this, stressing
the importance of codification.
The European Parliament, the Council and the
Commission agreed, by an interinstitutional agreement dated 20
December 1994, that an accelerated procedure may be used for the
fast-track adoption of codification instruments.
CONTENT: in the interests of clarity and rationality,
the purpose of this proposal is to undertake a codification of
Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 15 March 2006 establishing a Community Code on the
rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen
Borders Code). The new Regulation will supersede the various
acts incorporated in it; it fully preserves the content of the
acts being codified and hence does no more than bring them together
with only such formal amendments as are required by the
codification exercise itself.
Main codified provisions:
Purpose, scope and application: this Regulation provides
for the absence of border control of persons crossing the internal
borders between the Member States of the European Union. It lays
down rules governing border control of persons crossing the
external borders of the Member States of the European Union. In
addition, it establishes the list of persons to which it the
absence of control to internal borders applies. Border checks
should be carried out in such a way as to fully respect human
dignity. Border control should be carried out in a professional and
respectful manner and be proportionate to the objectives
pursued.
Types of controls: the Regulation provides
that border control comprises not only checks on persons at border
crossing points and surveillance between those border crossing
points, but also an analysis of the risks for internal security and
of the threats that may affect the security of external borders.
Therefore, the Regulation sets out the conditions, criteria and
detailed rules governing checks at border crossing points and
surveillance at the border, including checks in the Schengen
Information System (SIS).
Since only a verification of fingerprints can confirm
with certainty that a person wishing to enter the Schengen area is
the person to whom the visa has been issued, provisions have been
made for the use at external borders of the Visa Information System
(VIS).
Exceptional circumstances and controls: the Regulations stipulates that it should be
possible to have checks at external borders relaxed in the event of
exceptional and unforeseeable circumstances in order to avoid
excessive waiting time at border crossing points. The systematic
stamping of the documents of third-country nationals remains an
obligation in the event of border checks being relaxed. Stamping
makes it possible to establish, with certainty, the date on which,
and where, the border was crossed.
In order to reduce the waiting times of persons
enjoying the Union right of free movement, separate lanes,
indicated by uniform signs in all Member States, should, where
circumstances allow, be provided at border crossing points.
Separate lanes should be provided in international airports. Where
it is deemed appropriate and if local circumstances so allow,
Member States should consider installing separate lanes at sea and
land border crossing points.
Exceptional reintroduction of controls and serious
threats: the reintroduction of
internal border control should remain exceptional. In an area
without internal border control, it is necessary to have a common
response to situations seriously affecting the public policy or
internal security of that area, of parts thereof, or of one or more
Member States, by allowing for the temporary reintroduction of
internal border control in exceptional circumstances, but without
jeopardising the principle of the free movement of
persons.
Given the impact that such measures of last resort may
have on all persons having the right to move within the area
without internal border control, the conditions and procedures for
reintroducing such measures should be provided for, in order to
ensure that they are exceptional and that the principle of
proportionality is respected.
In any case, the reintroduction of internal border
control should remain an exception and should only be effected as a
measure of last resort, for a strictly limited scope and period of
time, based on specific objective criteria and on an assessment of
its necessity which should be monitored at Union level. Where a
serious threat to public policy or internal security requires
immediate action, a Member State should be able to reintroduce
border control at its internal borders for a period not exceeding
ten days. Any prolongation of that period needs to be monitored at
Union level.
Conditions for the reintroduction of internal border
control: the reintroduction of
internal border control might exceptionally be necessary in the
case of terrorist incidents or threats, or because of threats posed
by organised crime. The temporary reintroduction of border control
at certain internal borders may only be justified under a specific
Union-level procedure. The temporary reintroduction of border
control at certain internal borders could also be justified in the
case of exceptional circumstances and as a measure of last resort
where the overall functioning of the area without internal border
control is put at risk as a result of persistent serious
deficiencies relating to external border control identified in the
context of a rigorous evaluation process in accordance with
Regulation (EU) No 1053/2013.