Activites

• 2017/06/01 Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
• 2016/02/18 Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
  • A8-0028/2016 summary

    The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs adopted the report by Sylvia-Yvonne KAUFMANN (S&D, DE) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1683/1995 of 29 May 1995 laying down a uniform format for visas. The committee recommended the European Parliament to adopt its position at first reading taking over the Commission proposal. In the explanatory statement accompanying the legislative resolution, it is recalled that the current security concept for a uniform format for visas dates back to 1995, when it was initially developed under the intergovernmental Schengen cooperation. Regulation (EC) No 1683/1995 on a uniform format for visas took it over into EU law. Since then, it has been modified substantially twice.  Over the past few years forged visa stickers have arisen in several Member States. The present sticker is, as far as specialists are concerned, not secure any longer. Therefore, the Commission presented a proposal amending Regulation (EC) No 1683/1995 calling for a new model with more security features in order to make the visa sticker more secure and prevent forgery. There are no substantive changes to the enacting terms of this Regulation; the annex is merely replaced to show the image and the general description of the new visa sticker. The Commission has furthermore held out the prospect that the Regulation could face a codification after it has been adopted. Members considered that the Commission proposal should be adopted without any amendments in order to complete swift legislation for unforgeable visa stickers.

• 2016/02/16 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2015/07/06 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2015/06/24 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2015)0303 summary

    PURPOSE: to amend Regulation (EC) laying down a uniform format for visas. 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 1683/95 laying down a uniform format for visas took over the design adopted by the Schengen states and sets out in its recitals that these documents have to contain all the necessary information and meet very high technical standards, notably as regards safeguards against counterfeiting and falsification. Since the introduction of the uniform format for visas, two substantial modifications to the initial Regulation have been adopted, which have contributed to the issuance of secure documents, fulfilling very high technical standards: the first amendment was introduced with Regulation (EC) No 334/2002 integrating a photograph produced according to high security standards as a first step towards the use of elements establishing a more reliable link between the visa sticker and the holder; the second amendment with Regulation (EC) No 856/2008 related primarily to an adaptation of the numbering in order to comply with the requirements of the Visa Information System (VIS).  With the above mentioned modifications, high quality counterfeits have recently been detected in several Member States. It is therefore necessary to develop a new security concept with better security features for the visa sticker. The new common design should be established with more modern security features to render the visa sticker more secure and prevent forgery. For those reasons a physical document for the visa sticker will still be necessary for years to come. CONTENT: Council Regulation (EC) No 1683/951 laid down a uniform format for visas. The current visa sticker, which has been in circulation for 20 years, has to be considered as compromised in view of serious incidents of counterfeiting and fraud. Therefore, a new common model with more modern security features is proposed in order to render the visa sticker more secure and prevent forgery. The technical specifications for the production of the visa sticker are laid down in the new Annex to the amended Regulation.  There are no substantive changes to the enacting term of this Regulation, only the Annex is replaced to show the image and the general description of the new visa sticker. The Annex to Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 is replaced by the text in the Annex to this Regulation. Transition period: to allow for using up existing stocks, a transitional period of six months is foreseen within which Member States can still use the old visa stickers. Moreover, in relation to the current visa sticker, further improvement of the overall security is necessary, without increasing the costs for the document itself. Territorial provisions: specific measures are laid down in the proposal for the implementation of the proposal by Ireland and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 is part of the Schengen acquis to which Norway and Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are associated on the basis of their respective Association Agreements, the proposed amendment should also apply to them.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/migration-and-home-affairs_en', 'title': 'Migration and Home Affairs'}, AVRAMOPOULOS Dimitris

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2015)0303
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A8-0028/2016

Amendments

Dossier

7

2015/0134(COD) 2015/12/09 JURI 4 amendments... Amendment 1 # Marie-Christine BOUTONNET, Gilles LEBRETON Proposal for a regulation Recital 1 (1) Council Regulation (EC) No 1683/951laid down a uniform format for visas. This format is an inseparable feature of the Schengen area and so can be phased out along with it. __________________ 1 Council Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 of 29 May 1995 laying down a uniform format for visas (OJ L 164, 14.7.1995, p. 1). Amendment 2 # Marie-Christine BOUTONNET, Gilles LEBRETON Proposal for a regulation Recital 2 (2) The current visa sticker, which has been in circulation for 20 years, has to be considered as compromised in view of serious incidents of counterfeiting and fraud, a problem which has been exacerbated by the migration crisis currently affecting the Member States. Amendment 3 # Marie-Christine BOUTONNET, Gilles LEBRETON Proposal for a regulation Article 2 Visa stickers conforming to the specifications set out in the annex to Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 which are applicable until the date referred to in the second paragraph of Article 3 may be used for visas issued until sixthree months after that date. Amendment 4 # Marie-Christine BOUTONNET, Gilles LEBRETON Proposal for a regulation Article 3 – paragraph 2 It shall apply from ninfive months after the adoption of the further technical specifications referred to in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1683/95. source: 573.125 2015/12/11 LIBE 3 amendments... Amendment 1 # Lorenzo FONTANA Proposal for a regulation Recital 2 (2) The current visa sticker, which has been in circulation for 20 years, has to be considered as outdated and compromised in view of the serious incidents of counterfeiting and fraud which have occurred due, inter alia, to contemporary technological developments. For this reason we wish to see a model which can easily be updated and supplemented over time with changes which may be made and added without having to completely revise the model. Amendment 2 # Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ Proposal for a regulation Recital 3 (3) Therefore a new common design should be established, with more modhich not only guarantees greatern security features to render the visa sticker more secure and prevent forgeryand protects against forgery and fraud, but also incorporates more modern security features to prevent its misuse. Amendment 3 # Lorenzo FONTANA Proposal for a regulation Recital 3 (3) Therefore a new common design should be established with more modern security features to render the visa sticker far more secure and preventimmune to forgery. source: 573.112

History

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