Key Benefits:
Original text
(State on 12 September 2012)
The signatory governments, Members of the Council of Europe, Desiring to facilitate the movement of persons between their countries,
Agreed to the following:
Nationals of Contracting Parties, irrespective of the country of their residence, may enter and exit from the territory of other Parties under the cover of one of the documents listed in the Annex to the present Agreement, which is an integral part of it. 1
2. The facilities provided for in the preceding paragraph shall only play for stays of less than or equal to three months. 2
3. The valid passport and the visa may be required for all stays of a higher duration or for any entry into the territory of another Party with a view to engaging in a gainful occupation.
4. The term "territory" of a Contracting Party shall, in respect of this Agreement, have the meaning assigned to it by that Party in a declaration addressed to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, who shall communicate it to each of the Other Contracting Parties.
To the extent that one or more of the Contracting Parties deems it necessary, the crossing of the border shall take place only at authorized posts.
The provisions set out in the foregoing Articles shall not affect the legal and regulatory requirements relating to the stay of aliens in the territory of each of the Contracting Parties.
The provisions of this Agreement shall not affect the provisions of national laws, treaties, conventions or bilateral or multilateral agreements which are or will enter into force, under which more favourable measures Be applied to nationals of one or more other Contracting Parties with respect to the crossing of the border.
Each Contracting Party shall readmit without formality in its territory any holder of one of the documents listed in the list established by it and set out in the Annex to this Agreement, even where the nationality of the person concerned is Disputed.
Each Contracting Party reserves the right to refuse access or residence in its territory to nationals of another Party whom it considers undesirable.
Each Contracting Party reserves the right for reasons relating to public policy, security or public health not to apply this Agreement immediately or to temporarily suspend its application in respect of Other Parties or some of them except in respect of the provisions of s. 5. This measure shall be notified immediately to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, which shall give notice to the other Parties. This will be the case as soon as the measure in question is lifted.
Any Contracting Party which shall avail itself of one of the faculties provided for in the preceding paragraph shall be entitled to the application of this Agreement by a Party other than to the extent that it will apply it itself in respect of that Party.
This Agreement shall be open for signature by the Members of the Council of Europe which may become Parties by:
The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the date on which three Members of the Council, in accordance with the provisions of Art. 8, have signed the Agreement without reservation of ratification or have ratified it.
For any Member who subsequently signs the Agreement without reservation or ratification, the Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the signature or deposit of the instrument of ratification.
After the entry into force of this Agreement, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe may invite any non-member State of the Council to accede to it. Accession shall take effect on the first day of the month following the deposit of the instrument of accession with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
Any Government which wishes to sign or accede to this Agreement and has not yet established its list of documents referred to in s. 1 of Article 1 and set out in the Annex, shall present to the Contracting Parties a list of such documents through the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. This list shall be considered as approved by all Contracting Parties and shall be added to the Annex to this Agreement if no objection has been raised within two months of its submission by the Secretary General.
The same procedure will be applied when a signatory government is willing to make changes to the list of documents set out in the Annex.
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe shall notify the Members of the Council and the acceding States:
Any Contracting Party may terminate, as far as it is concerned, the application of this Agreement, subject to three months' notice, given by notification to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
In witness whereof, The undersigned, duly authorized to that effect, have signed this Agreement.
Done at Paris, on 13 December 1957, in English and in French, both texts being equally authentic, in a single copy which shall be deposited in the archives of the Council of Europe. The Secretary General of the Council shall send a certified copy to the signatory governments.
(Suivent signatures)
| Federal Republic of Germany |
Passport valid or expired for less than one year; Interim passport valid or expired for less than one year; Children's passport or travel certificate for children of the Federal Republic of Germany valid or expired for less than one year; Official identity card of the Federal Republic of Germany valid; Provisional identity card valid for the Federal Republic of Germany. |
| Austria: |
Passport valid or expired for less than five years; Official identity card; Children's travel certificate. |
| Belgium |
National passport of Belgium valid or expired for less than 5 years; Official identity card; Identification card issued to a Belgian national, valid registration certificate, originating from a Belgian diplomatic or consular agent abroad; 2 Interim Identity Card; 3 Interim Identity Card; 4 Certificate of identity with photographs, issued by a Belgian municipal government to a child under 12 years of age; No photograph ID issued to children under 12 years of age by a Belgian municipal government; however, this document will only be accepted for children travelling with their parents; Identity card for foreigners valid, issued by the competent authority of the country of residence, for Belgians residing regularly in France, Luxembourg and Switzerland, mentioning that the holder is a Belgian national. |
| Spain 5 |
Passport valid or expired for less than five years; National identity card is valid; For those under the age of 18, the national identity card valid with the authorization given by the person exercising the paternity who appeared before the Central Police Commissioner, investigating judge, Notary, Mayor or Commanding Officer of a Civil Guard position |
| France 6 |
National passport of the French Republic valid or expired for less than five years (a new model has been put into circulation since 28 April 1999; the old model, issued under certain assumptions, remains valid); Official identity card of the French Republic, valid; Interim Identification Card valid for three months; Identity card for foreigners, valid, issued by the competent authority of the country of residence, for the French regularly residing in Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland; this card will have to mention the nationality of the holder. |
| Greece 7 |
The national passport is valid; Personal Identity Card. |
| Italy |
The national passport of the Italian Republic which is valid; Official identity card of the Italian Republic; For children: a certificate containing the civil status data issued by the municipal administration of the place of birth or residence, with photographs, validated by the police; 8 Personal identity card issued to state officials 9 |
| Liechtenstein 10 |
National passport of the Principality of Liechtenstein; The identity card of the Principality of Liechtenstein. |
| Luxembourg |
Passport valid or expired for less than 5 years; Official identity card; Identity and travel document issued to a child under 15 years of age by a commune administration in Luxembourg; Identity card for foreigners valid, issued by the competent authority of the country of residence, for Luxembourgers who are regularly resident in Belgium, France, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, mentioning that the holder is Luxembourg nationality. |
| Malta 11 |
The national passport is valid; Valid official identity card. |
| Netherlands 12 |
National passport; Dutch identity card; Business passport; Diplomatic passport; Service passport; Leave it. Temporary service passport) and pass; Valid identity card (tourist card) model B Identity card for foreigners, valid, issued by the Belgian authorities and mentioning that the holder is of Dutch nationality; Identity card for foreigners, valid, issued by the Luxembourg authorities and mentioning that the holder is of Dutch nationality. |
| Portugal 13 |
Passport valid or expired for less than five years; A valid National Identity Card; A valid collective certificate of identity and travel. |
| Slovenia 14 |
Regular passport valid; Valid diplomatic passport; Valid service passport. |
| Switzerland 15 |
National passport valid or expired for less than five years; A valid Swiss identity card; Pass by a Swiss Representation abroad only valid for a direct return to Switzerland. |
| Turkey 16 |
The national passport is valid; Travel certificate (for a single trip and to return to Turkey). |
| Ukraine 17 |
The passport of the citizen of Ukraine for travel abroad; Diplomatic passport; The service passport; The child's travel document; The identity card of the seafarer (if there is a description of the role of the ship or statement of that role); The crew member's certificate (if there is an entry on the flight mission); The certificate for return to Ukraine (only for return to Ukraine). |
| States Parties |
Ratification Signature without reservation of ratification (If) |
Entry into force |
||
| Germany * ** |
30 May |
1958 |
1 Er June |
1958 |
| Austria * ** |
30 May |
1958 |
1 Er June |
1958 |
| Belgium * ** |
13 December |
1957 If |
1 Er January |
1958 |
| Spain * ** |
18 May |
1982 |
1 Er June |
1982 |
| France * ** |
13 December |
1957 If |
1 Er January |
1958 |
| Greece * ** |
13 December |
1957 If |
1 Er January |
1958 |
| Italy * |
13 December |
1957 If |
1 Er January |
1958 |
| Liechtenstein * |
September 25 |
1998 If |
1 Er October |
1998 |
| Luxembourg * ** |
24 April |
1961 |
1 Er May |
1961 |
| Malta * |
7 May |
1968 |
1 Er June |
1968 |
| Netherlands * ** |
24 February |
1961 |
1 Er March |
1961 |
| Portugal * |
30 May |
1984 |
1 Er June |
1984 |
| Slovenia * |
11 December |
2001 |
1 Er January |
2002 |
| Switzerland * ** |
20 December |
1966 |
1 Er January |
1967 |
| Turkey * |
25 May |
1961 If |
1 Er June |
1961 |
| Ukraine * |
21 June |
2006 |
1 Er July |
2006 |
| * |
Reservations and declarations. |
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| ** |
Objections. |
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| Reservations, declarations and objections, with the exception of those of Switzerland, are not published in the RO. The texts in English and French can be found at the Council of Europe website: http://conventions.coe.int or obtained from the Directorate of Public International Law (DDIP), International Treaty Section, 3003 Berne. |
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Switzerland 19
Switzerland and Ukraine are Parties to the European Agreement of 13 December 1957 on the system of movement of persons between the member countries of the Council of Europe. In accordance with Art. 7 of the Agreement, Switzerland decided on the temporary suspension with immediate effect from its application in respect of Ukraine, except in respect of the disposal of art. 5.
The application of this Agreement with respect to Ukraine is incompatible with the EC Regulation n O 539/2001 of which Annex I provides that Ukraine is among the states whose nationals are subject to the visa requirement to cross the external borders of the Member States.
Switzerland 20
Partial objection of 19 December 2001
By notification of amendment of annex, dated 26 October 2001, the Secretariat transmitted to the States Parties to the Agreement a declaration contained in a note verbale dated 21 September 2001 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
Under s. 11 of the Agreement, and within the two-month period provided for by that provision, the Swiss authorities shall approve the inclusion, within the scope of this Treaty, of the following Dutch documents:
On the other hand, the Swiss authorities cannot accept that the refugee passport and passport for foreigners, also mentioned in the aforementioned declaration, are covered by this Convention. In so far as the holders of these documents are not nationals of one of the Contracting Parties, the facilities for entry into the territory of the other Parties provided for in the Agreement are not applicable to them (cf. Art. 1, para. 1).
On the other hand, the agreement specifies, in its art. 5, that " each Contracting Party shall readmit without formality in its territory any holder of one of the documents listed in the list established by it and set out in the Annex to this Agreement, even where the nationality of The person concerned would be challenged. However, there is no information to consider that the passport and the passport for foreigners are also valid for the (re) admission to the Netherlands without any conditions or formality.
As a result, Switzerland objects to the proposed amendment of the Annex, insofar as it relates to the passport and the passport for foreigners.
1 RO 2012 2895
2 RO 1989 2433
3 RO 1989 2433
4 RO 1989 2433
5 RO 1982 1934
6 RO 2004 3215
7 RO 2008 651
8 RO 1989 2433
9 RO 1971 728
10 RO 2004 3215
11 RO 1971 728
12 RO 2004 3215
13 RO 2004 3215
14 RO 2004 3215
15 RO 2013 57
16 RO 1981 499
17 RO 2008 651 .
18 A version of the updated scope of application is published on the DFAE website (www.eda.admin.ch/traites).
19 RO 2007 421
20 RO 2004 3215
