BETA


2022/0274(COD) Non-recognition of Russian travel documents issued in occupied foreign regions

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead LIBE LÓPEZ AGUILAR Juan Fernando (icon: S&D S&D) LENAERS Jeroen (icon: EPP EPP), SIPPEL Birgit (icon: S&D S&D), IN 'T VELD Sophia (icon: Renew Renew), STRIK Tineke (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), TARDINO Annalisa (icon: ID ID), JAKI Patryk (icon: ECR ECR), ERNST Cornelia (icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL)
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 163, TFEU 077-p2

Events

2022/12/21
   Final act published in Official Journal
2022/12/14
   CSL - Draft final act
Documents
2022/12/14
   CSL - Final act signed
2022/12/05
   EP/CSL - Act adopted by Council after Parliament's 1st reading
2022/11/24
   EP - Decision by Parliament, 1st reading
Details

The European Parliament adopted by 531 votes to 7, with 34 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the non-recognition of Russian travel documents issued in occupied foreign regions.

Parliament adopted its position at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure by amending the proposal as follows:

Refusal of Russian passports from occupied regions

Russian travel documents issued in the regions or territories of Ukraine that are occupied by Russia or in the breakaway territories of Georgia which, at the time of entry into force of the decision, are not under the control of the Georgian government, and Russian travel documents issued to persons residing there, will not be accepted as valid travel documents for the purpose of issuing a visa or crossing external borders.

List of travel documents

The Commission will draw up, with the assistance of the Member States, a list of travel documents that will not be accepted, including the dates from which these travel documents started to be issued. It will also adopt an implementing act containing this list. This implementing act will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and the list will be integrated into the list of travel documents established under Decision 1105/2011/EU on the list of travel documents entitling their holders to cross external borders and to which a visa may be affixed and on the establishment of a mechanism for drawing up this list.

Derogations, preservation of the right of asylum

A Russian travel document may be accepted: (i) if the holder was a Russian citizen before the relevant date indicated in the Commission implementing act or if the holder is a descendant of such a Russian citizen; (ii) if the holder was a minor or legally incapacitate at the time of the issuance of the travel document.

Persons fleeing the conflict in Ukraine will still be able to enter the EU on humanitarian grounds. The decision will not affect the EU acquis on asylum, in particular the right to apply for international protection.

Documents
2022/11/17
   EP - Approval in committee of the text agreed at 1st reading interinstitutional negotiations
2022/10/20
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2022/10/20
   EP - Decision by Parliament, 1st reading
Details

The European Parliament adopted by 540 votes to 6, with 36 abstentions, amendments to the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the non-recognition of Russian travel documents issued in occupied foreign regions.

The matter was referred back to the committee responsible for inter-institutional negotiations.

The main amendments adopted in plenary concern the following points:

Refusal of Russian passports from occupied regions

According to Members, Russian travel documents issued in regions or territories occupied by Russia in Ukraine (the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol; the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia) or in breakaway territories of Georgia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) or issued to persons residing there, should not be accepted as valid travel documents when issuing visas or crossing external borders.

The Commission should draw up, with the assistance of Member States, a list of not accepted Russian travel documents , per region or territory. The list to be drawn up by the Commission should include the dates from which those Russian travel documents started to be issued in those regions or territories and from which the travel documents issued after those dates should not be accepted.

The list should be adopted by means of an implementing act, be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and be incorporated in the list of travel documents established under Decision No 1105/2011/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, and set out in the accompanying table of travel documents issued by third countries and territorial entities and which is publicly available online.

Derogations, preservation of the right to asylum

Member States should be able to grant a derogation to: (i) persons who were Russian citizens at the time when Russian documents started to be issued in the occupied region or territory in question or in a breakaway territory, or to the descendants of such persons; and (ii) children or legally incapacitated persons at the time when they obtained Russian citizenship through the simplified naturalisation procedure provided under Russian law.

naturalisation procedure under Russian law.

Members want to preserve the right of everyone to flee the conflict in Ukraine and to enter the EU on humanitarian grounds . The decision should not affect the EU's asylum acquis, in particular the right to seek international protection.

Amendment of the list of occupied territories

In order to take account of relevant legal and political developments, Parliament proposes to empower the Commission to add or remove new regions to the list of occupied territories by means of delegated acts . In order to allow the Union to respond quickly in a rapidly evolving situation, it is appropriate to provide for the immediate application of the relevant delegated act where imperative grounds of urgency so require.

Documents
2022/10/20
   EP - Matter referred back to the committee responsible
2022/10/10
   EP - Decision by committee, without report
2022/10/07
   EP - LÓPEZ AGUILAR Juan Fernando (S&D) appointed as rapporteur in LIBE
2022/10/03
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading
2022/09/06
   EC - Legislative proposal published
Details

PURPOSE: to ensure that Russian travel documents issued in or to persons resident in the occupied foreign regions, irrespective of the geographical location, are not recognised by the Member States for the purposes of issuing of a visa and of crossing the external borders.

PROPOSED ACT: Decision 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: in reaction to the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation in 2014 and to its continued destabilising actions in eastern Ukraine, the EU has already introduced economic sanctions in response to Russia's actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine, linked to the incomplete implementation of the Minsk Agreements.

Since the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula, Russia has issued Russian international passports to residents of Crimea. In May 2022, Russia introduced a simplified Russian naturalisation procedure for orphan children from the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic, as well as Ukraine. The decree also applies to children without parental care and legally incapable persons who are inhabitants of these two occupied regions. The systematic issuance of Russian passports in these occupied regions constitutes a further infringement of international law and Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.

Therefore, in view of the breaches of international law and military aggression against Ukraine by Russia, and in order to ensure a common visa policy and a common approach to checks to which persons crossing the external borders are subject, all Russian travel documents issued in or to persons resident in occupied foreign regions should not be recognised as valid travel documents for the purposes of issuing of a visa and of crossing the external borders. The same applies to travel documents issued in the Russian-occupied Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Similarly, this measure of non-recognition would apply to all travel documents issued by Russian authorities in any foreign regions Russia possibly and illegally invades or occupies in the future.

CONTENT: the proposal aims to ensure that Russian travel documents issued in or to persons resident in the occupied foreign regions, irrespective of the geographical location, are not recognised by the Member States for the purposes of issuing of a visa and of crossing the external borders. Its overarching aim is to ensure a well-functioning common visa policy and policy on external border checks as well as to safeguard the security of the Union and its Member States .

For reasons of legal certainty, clarity and transparency, the Commission should establish a list of those Russian travel documents that should not be recognised for the purposes of travel into the Schengen area. This list will be publicly available on the Commission website as part of the table of recognition of travel documents and list of travel documents issued by third countries, as established by Decision 1105/2011/EU.

Documents

History

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

events/3
date
2022-10-20T00:00:00
type
Results of vote in Parliament
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EP
docs
url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=58963&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
events/9
date
2022-12-21T00:00:00
type
Final act published in Official Journal
docs
procedure/final
title
Decision 2022/2512
url
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32022D2512
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Procedure completed, awaiting publication in Official Journal
New
Procedure completed
docs/0
date
2022-09-06T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Legislative proposal
body
EC
events/0
date
2022-09-06T00:00:00
type
Legislative proposal published
body
EC
docs
summary
docs/0
date
2022-09-06T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Legislative proposal
body
EC
events/0
date
2022-09-06T00:00:00
type
Legislative proposal published
body
EC
docs
summary
events/8
date
2022-12-14T00:00:00
type
Final act signed
body
CSL
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Awaiting signature of act
New
Procedure completed, awaiting publication in Official Journal
docs/0
date
2022-12-14T00:00:00
docs
title: 00057/2022/LEX
type
Draft final act
body
CSL
docs/0
date
2022-11-24T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0413_EN.html title: T9-0413/2022
type
Text adopted by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
body
EP
events/7
date
2022-12-05T00:00:00
type
Act adopted by Council after Parliament's 1st reading
body
EP/CSL
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Awaiting Council's 1st reading position
New
Awaiting signature of act
events/6/summary
  • The European Parliament adopted by 531 votes to 7, with 34 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the non-recognition of Russian travel documents issued in occupied foreign regions.
  • Parliament adopted its position at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure by amending the proposal as follows:
  • Refusal of Russian passports from occupied regions
  • Russian travel documents issued in the regions or territories of Ukraine that are occupied by Russia or in the breakaway territories of Georgia which, at the time of entry into force of the decision, are not under the control of the Georgian government, and Russian travel documents issued to persons residing there, will not be accepted as valid travel documents for the purpose of issuing a visa or crossing external borders.
  • List of travel documents
  • The Commission will draw up, with the assistance of the Member States, a list of travel documents that will not be accepted, including the dates from which these travel documents started to be issued. It will also adopt an implementing act containing this list. This implementing act will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and the list will be integrated into the list of travel documents established under Decision 1105/2011/EU on the list of travel documents entitling their holders to cross external borders and to which a visa may be affixed and on the establishment of a mechanism for drawing up this list.
  • Derogations, preservation of the right of asylum
  • A Russian travel document may be accepted: (i) if the holder was a Russian citizen before the relevant date indicated in the Commission implementing act or if the holder is a descendant of such a Russian citizen; (ii) if the holder was a minor or legally incapacitate at the time of the issuance of the travel document.
  • Persons fleeing the conflict in Ukraine will still be able to enter the EU on humanitarian grounds. The decision will not affect the EU acquis on asylum, in particular the right to apply for international protection.
docs/0
date
2022-11-24T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0413_EN.html title: T9-0413/2022
type
Text adopted by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
body
EP
docs/0
date
2022-10-20T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0370_EN.html title: T9-0370/2022
type
Text adopted by Parliament, partial vote at 1st reading/single reading
body
EP
events/6
date
2022-11-24T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0413_EN.html title: T9-0413/2022
forecasts
  • date: 2022-11-24T00:00:00 title: Vote in plenary scheduled
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Awaiting Parliament's position in 1st reading
New
Awaiting Council's 1st reading position
events/5
date
2022-11-17T00:00:00
type
Approval in committee of the text agreed at 1st reading interinstitutional negotiations
body
EP
forecasts
  • date: 2022-11-24T00:00:00 title: Vote in plenary scheduled
committees/0/shadows
  • name: LENAERS Jeroen group: Group of European People's Party abbr: EPP
  • name: SIPPEL Birgit group: Group of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats abbr: S&D
  • name: IN 'T VELD Sophia group: Renew Europe group abbr: Renew
  • name: STRIK Tineke group: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance abbr: Verts/ALE
  • name: TARDINO Annalisa group: Identity and Democracy abbr: ID
  • name: JAKI Patryk group: European Conservatives and Reformists Group abbr: ECR
  • name: ERNST Cornelia group: The Left group in the European Parliament - GUE/NGL abbr: GUE/NGL
events/3/summary
  • The European Parliament adopted by 540 votes to 6, with 36 abstentions, amendments to the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the non-recognition of Russian travel documents issued in occupied foreign regions.
  • The matter was referred back to the committee responsible for inter-institutional negotiations.
  • The main amendments adopted in plenary concern the following points:
  • Refusal of Russian passports from occupied regions
  • According to Members, Russian travel documents issued in regions or territories occupied by Russia in Ukraine (the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol; the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia) or in breakaway territories of Georgia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) or issued to persons residing there, should not be accepted as valid travel documents when issuing visas or crossing external borders.
  • The Commission should draw up, with the assistance of Member States, a list of not accepted Russian travel documents , per region or territory. The list to be drawn up by the Commission should include the dates from which those Russian travel documents started to be issued in those regions or territories and from which the travel documents issued after those dates should not be accepted.
  • The list should be adopted by means of an implementing act, be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and be incorporated in the list of travel documents established under Decision No 1105/2011/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, and set out in the accompanying table of travel documents issued by third countries and territorial entities and which is publicly available online.
  • Derogations, preservation of the right to asylum
  • Member States should be able to grant a derogation to: (i) persons who were Russian citizens at the time when Russian documents started to be issued in the occupied region or territory in question or in a breakaway territory, or to the descendants of such persons; and (ii) children or legally incapacitated persons at the time when they obtained Russian citizenship through the simplified naturalisation procedure provided under Russian law.
  • naturalisation procedure under Russian law.
  • Members want to preserve the right of everyone to flee the conflict in Ukraine and to enter the EU on humanitarian grounds . The decision should not affect the EU's asylum acquis, in particular the right to seek international protection.
  • Amendment of the list of occupied territories
  • In order to take account of relevant legal and political developments, Parliament proposes to empower the Commission to add or remove new regions to the list of occupied territories by means of delegated acts . In order to allow the Union to respond quickly in a rapidly evolving situation, it is appropriate to provide for the immediate application of the relevant delegated act where imperative grounds of urgency so require.
docs/0
date
2022-10-20T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0370_EN.html title: T9-0370/2022
type
Text adopted by Parliament, partial vote at 1st reading/single reading
body
EP
docs/0
date
2022-09-06T00:00:00
docs
type
Legislative proposal
body
EC
events/3
date
2022-10-20T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0370_EN.html title: T9-0370/2022
events/4
date
2022-10-20T00:00:00
type
Matter referred back to the committee responsible
body
EP
events/2
date
2022-10-10T00:00:00
type
Decision by committee, without report
body
EP
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure EP 163
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Awaiting committee decision
New
Awaiting Parliament's position in 1st reading
committees/0/rapporteur
  • name: LÓPEZ AGUILAR Juan Fernando date: 2022-10-07T00:00:00 group: Group of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats abbr: S&D
events/1
date
2022-10-03T00:00:00
type
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading
body
EP
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee
  • LIBE/9/10030
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Preparatory phase in Parliament
New
Awaiting committee decision
events/0/summary
  • PURPOSE: to ensure that Russian travel documents issued in or to persons resident in the occupied foreign regions, irrespective of the geographical location, are not recognised by the Member States for the purposes of issuing of a visa and of crossing the external borders.
  • PROPOSED ACT: Decision 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: in reaction to the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation in 2014 and to its continued destabilising actions in eastern Ukraine, the EU has already introduced economic sanctions in response to Russia's actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine, linked to the incomplete implementation of the Minsk Agreements.
  • Since the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula, Russia has issued Russian international passports to residents of Crimea. In May 2022, Russia introduced a simplified Russian naturalisation procedure for orphan children from the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic, as well as Ukraine. The decree also applies to children without parental care and legally incapable persons who are inhabitants of these two occupied regions. The systematic issuance of Russian passports in these occupied regions constitutes a further infringement of international law and Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.
  • Therefore, in view of the breaches of international law and military aggression against Ukraine by Russia, and in order to ensure a common visa policy and a common approach to checks to which persons crossing the external borders are subject, all Russian travel documents issued in or to persons resident in occupied foreign regions should not be recognised as valid travel documents for the purposes of issuing of a visa and of crossing the external borders. The same applies to travel documents issued in the Russian-occupied Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Similarly, this measure of non-recognition would apply to all travel documents issued by Russian authorities in any foreign regions Russia possibly and illegally invades or occupies in the future.
  • CONTENT: the proposal aims to ensure that Russian travel documents issued in or to persons resident in the occupied foreign regions, irrespective of the geographical location, are not recognised by the Member States for the purposes of issuing of a visa and of crossing the external borders. Its overarching aim is to ensure a well-functioning common visa policy and policy on external border checks as well as to safeguard the security of the Union and its Member States .
  • For reasons of legal certainty, clarity and transparency, the Commission should establish a list of those Russian travel documents that should not be recognised for the purposes of travel into the Schengen area. This list will be publicly available on the Commission website as part of the table of recognition of travel documents and list of travel documents issued by third countries, as established by Decision 1105/2011/EU.
docs/0/docs/1
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