Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the requirements for children crossing the external borders of the Member States

Regulation (EC) No 444/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 May 2009 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2252/2004 on standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents issued by Member States introduced the principle of 'one person-one passport'.

According to this principle, passports and travel documents shall be issued as individual documents; family or other group passports can no longer be issued. The principle was recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in 1997 since it is considered more secure if every person - including children - has his/her own passport.

This report responds to the obligation in Article 1 of the Regulation according to which "the Commission shall present a report on the requirements for children travelling alone or accompanied, crossing the external borders of the Member States not later than 26 June 2012 and propose, if necessary, appropriate initiatives in order to ensure a common approach regarding the rules for the protection of children crossing the external borders of the Member States".

The present document is based on an extensive study carried out for the Commission on the legislation and practices of the EU, its Member States and the Schengen associated countries regarding the issue of EU and third-country national children - alone or accompanied - crossing the external borders. The report deals (specifically) with checks on children legally crossing the external borders.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)567: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:567:FIN

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