Decisions of the Executive Committee and the Central Group — Declarations of the Central Group
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
2. — DECISIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND THE CENTRAL GROUP — DECLARATIONS OF THE CENTRAL GROUP 2.1. HORIZONTAL 2. — DECISIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND THE CENTRAL GROUP 155 DECISION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE of 14 December 1993 concerning the declarations by the ministers and State secretaries (SCH/Com-ex (93) 10) The Executive Committee, Having regard to Article 132 of the convention implementing the Schengen Agreement, HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: the declarations by the ministers and State secretaries of 19 June 1992 (1) and 30 June 1993 regarding the bringing into force of the implementing convention and the fulfilment of the prerequisites are hereby confirmed. Paris, 14 December 1993 The Chairman A. LAMASSOURE (1) The declarations of 19 June 1992 have not been taken over in the acquis. 156 The Schengen acquis Annex Madrid, 30 June 1993 SCH/M (93) 14 DECLARATION OF THE MINISTERS AND STATE SECRETARIES 1. The ministers and State secretaries hereby agree to set the political goal of applying the 1990 Schengen Convention as of 1 December 1993. 2. The ministers and State secretaries note that the following preconditions have been fulfilled: — the common manual; — the arrangements for issuing the uniform visa and the common consular instructions on visas; — the examination of applications for asylum; — the airports, as agreed in the declaration of the ministers and State secretaries of 19 June 1992. Great progress has been made in respect of the other preconditions, which have already been fulfilled to such an extent that the said application ought to be possible as of 1 December 1993. To this end, and in compliance with the 1990 Schengen Convention, additionalefforts are necessary to give effect to the agreements alreadyreached on externalborder controlsand drugs. The ministers and State secretaries confirm that an operationalSIS is an essentialcondition for the abolition of controls at the internal borders. Significant progress has been accomplished in this area. They agree to step up work to enable the SIS to be brought into operation by degrees as the States successfully complete the tests and bring their N.SISs into operation. 3. At its meeting in October the Executive Committee will take final stock of progress made in realising the additional efforts mentioned above. 4. The 1990 Schengen Convention will apply in all the Member States which have fulfilled the preconditions and have an operationalN.SIS. To this end, all the Member States undertake to make all the necessary arrangements to complete the national procedures required for ratification of the convention and the accession agreements. 2. — DECISIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND THE CENTRAL GROUP 157 5. The ministers and State secretaries agree that the originalSignatory States to the 1990 Schengen Convention which have not already done so must deposit their instruments of ratification as soon as possible and at the latest on a date which will allow the deadline set in paragraph 1 to be respected. Those Member States which have not already done so also agree to deposit, as soon as possible and at the latest on a date which will allow the deadline set in paragraph 1 to be respected, their instruments ratifying the accession agreements of those States whose N.SISs are being integrated into the system. This undertaking will also apply as the other acceding States reach the same stage with regard to their respective N.SISs. The ministers and State secretaries agree that the declaration on Article 139 in the final act of the convention implies that the bringing into force of the convention is subject to an Executive Committee decision which must be adopted as soon as the preconditions have been fulfilled. 158 The Schengen acquis DECISION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE of 14 December 1993 concerning the confidential nature of certain documents (SCH/Com-ex (93) 22 rev) The Executive Committee, Having regard to Article 132 of the convention implementing the Schengen Agreement, HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: 1. Irrespective of the different nationallegalrules,certain documents must be kept confidentialfor the followingthree reasons: — making some documents public would be directly contrary to the objectives set; — moreover, some documents may contain personaldata or a description of administrative procedures that should not be disclosed; — Certain documents may also contain information relating to the production techniques or even the security of externalrelations. 2. The following documents shall remain confidential: Annexes 1, 5, 8, 9 and 10 to the common consular instructions, the list of countries subject to the visa requirement, the common manual, the Sirene manual, the three documents covered by the decision on narcotic drugs (tightening controls at external borders (SCH/Stup (92) 45), controlled deliveries (SCH/Stup (92) 46 rev 4) and measures on combating the illicit export of drugs (SCH/Stup (92) 72 rev 3)) (1). 3. The States may incorporate the content of the common manual, the Sirene manual and Annex 1 to the common consular instructions on visas (the list of countries subject to the visa requirement) into their own nationalinstructions and manuals. Paris, 14 December 1993 The Chairman A. LAMASSOURE (1) See SCH/Com-ex (98) 17. 2. — DECISIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND THE CENTRAL GROUP 159 DECISION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE of 22 December 1994 on bringing into force the convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 19 June 1990 (SCH/Com-ex (94) 29 rev 2) The Executive Committee, Having regard to Article 2 of the convention implementing the Schengen Agreement, Having regard to Article 131 of the abovementioned convention, Having regard to Article 132 of the abovementioned convention, Having regard to Article 139(2) in conjunction with paragraphs (1) and (2) of Joint Declaration I on Article 139 contained in the final act of the abovementioned convention, HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: The convention implementing the Schengen Agreement (hereinafter the ‘convention’) shall be applied irreversibly: (1) Bringing into force the rules and regulations The convention shall be brought into force in its entirety on 26 March 1995 for the initial Signatory States namely Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and the acceding States Spain and Portugal. From that date onwards all provisions of the convention shall apply to relations between the Schengen Contracting Parties in accordance with the decisions of the Executive Committee, in particular those relating to, — the abolition of checks on persons at the internal borders, in particular the removal of obstacles to and restrictions on traffic at the road crossings on the internal borders (SCH/Com-ex (94) 1 rev 2), — the introduction and application of Schengen arrangements at airports and aerodromes (SCH/Com-ex (94) 17 rev 4), 160 The Schengen acquis — the performance of checks at the externalborders and measures to further enhance security at the externalborders (SCH/Com-ex (93) 4 rev 2 corr ( 1); SCH/Com-ex (94) decl. 8 corr (2); SCH/Com-ex (94) 12*; SCH/Com-ex (94) 16 rev; SCH/Com-ex (94) 23 rev*), — the common policy on visas (SCH/Com-ex (93) 6**; SCH/Com-ex (93) 7*; SCH/ Com-ex (93) 19**; SCH/Com-ex (93) 24; SCH/Com-ex (93) 21; SCH/Com-ex (94) 15 rev; SCH/Com-ex (94) 2; SCH/Com-ex (94) 5*; SCH/Com-ex (94) 6*; SCH/ Com-ex (94) 7*; SCH/Com-ex (94) 20 rev*; SCH/Com-ex (94) 24*), — the fight against the illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (SCH/Com-ex (93) 9; SCH/Com-ex (94) 28 rev), — responsibility for examining asylum applications (SCH/Com-ex (93) 15 corr (3); SCH/Com-ex (94) 3***; SCH/Com-ex (94) 11***) and — internationalmutualjudicialassistance (SCH/Com-ex (93) 14). A decision shall be adopted at a later date for the other States which have acceded to the convention, namely Italy and Greece, as soon as they have satisfied the preconditions for the convention to be brought into force. (2) Declaring Schengen information system (SIS) operational The SIS shall be declared operational and accessible to the authorities entitled to consult directly the data contained therein on 26 March 1995. The Sirene manual(SCH/Com-ex (93) 8 ( 4)) supplementing the SIS shall apply in its entirety with effect as of that date. By reason of the conclusions of the report by the SIS Steering Committee, the Executive Committee considers that the SIS will be operational on that date and that the existing nationaldata deemed essentialwithin the meaning of its declaration of 18 October 1993 (SCH/Com-ex (93) decl. 1 (5)) shall then have been loaded in accordance with its declaration of 27 June 1994 (SCH/Com-ex (94) decl. 4 rev 2). (1) See SCH/Com-ex (99) 13. (2) This document is not taken over in the acquis. (3) ‘Asylum’ provisions taken over in the Bonn Protocol (SCH/Com-ex (94) 3). (4) Replaced by SCH/Com-ex (99) 5. (5) This document is not taken over in the acquis. 2. — DECISIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND THE CENTRAL GROUP 161 As of that date the Joint Supervisory Authority provided for under Article 115 of the convention shall assume its functions. The provisions of the convention on data protection shall apply in their entirety. The Executive Committee refers to the notification by the ProvisionalJoint Supervisory Authority for data protection that the Contracting Parties which have successfully completed the tests satisfy the data protection conditions required for the putting into operation of the SIS. (3) Arrangements for the preparatory period (22 December 1994 to 26 March 1995) The