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 uniform format for visas was initially developed in the intergovernmental Schengen cooperation and taken over into EU law with the adoption of Regulation No 1683/95 on a uniform format for visas. All Member States, including Denmark, United Kingdom and Ireland participated in this Regulation which was based on Article 100(c) TEC introduced at Maastricht. The integration of the Schengen acquis into the Union and the introduction of “variable geometry” in Union law took place subsequently, on 1 May 1999, when the Amsterdam treaty entered into force.

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. These measures were taken in the framework of fighting irregular migration.

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, as an important contribution to ensuring that the uniform format for visas was protected even against fraudulent use. 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).

Whereas the security concept for the uniform visa format dates back to 1995, 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 and design for a future more secure visa. For a future visa concept it is important to take into account that the current EU visa document is part of the entire visa system including the Visa Information System (VIS), which is still in its roll-out phase.

Regardless of the database system it is currently still necessary to have a physical document for the visa. There is still a need for the visa sticker, first because of all Multiple Entry Visas (MEV) which are issued with a long period of validity before the full roll-out of the VIS and secondly, because the uniform visa format is also used for the long stay D-Visas, which are not stored in the VIS and which will remain valid for several years. For those reasons a physical document for the visa sticker will still be necessary for years to come. Moreover, in relation to the current visa sticker, further improvement of the overall security is necessary, without increasing the costs for the document itself.

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)303: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:303:FIN

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