COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION

of 4 March 1996

relating to local consular cooperation regarding visas

(96/C 80/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Article K.1 (3) thereof,

Whereas it is advisable to prepare for greater harmonization in the policy and practice of the issue of visas;

Whereas the issue of visas, pending the possible preparation of joint instructions on the matter, is governed by each Member State's national legislation;

Whereas each Member State, when issuing its own visas, should have the necessary information to take account of the interests of the other Member States, in particular the protection of national security and public order and the prevention of clandestine immigration,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS THAT THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES:

in so far as the practical need is felt, take the measures necessary to facilitate that:

1. the Member States' consular services should maintain local cooperation on visas, involving an exchange of information on the criteria for issuing visas and an exchange of information on risks to national security and public order or the risk of clandestine immigration;

2. the Heads of their consular services and their assistants in visa matters should hold meetings for the purposes of exchanging the information referred to in paragraph 1;

3. their consular services should organize mutual visits of officials responsible for issuing visas in order to improve the exchange of information and reciprocal knowledge;

4. at the request of the Council, their consular services should draw up joint reports on local visa issues which are likely to be relevant to the Council's discussions;

5. their consular services should adopt any appropriate joint measures to establish the existence of simultaneous visa applications or a series of applications, and, if need be, to ascertain any earlier visa refusal by another Member State;

6. their consular services should exchange information to help to determine the good faith of visa applicants and their reputation, it being understood that the fact that the applicant has obtained a visa for another Member State does not exempt the authorities of the other Member States from their responsibility to examine individually the visa application and perform the verification required for purposes of security, public order and clandestine immigration control.

The exchange of information provided for in this recommendation must take the relevant data protection rules into account.

Done at Brussels, 4 March 1996.

For the Council

The President

P. BARATTA