Visas: uniform format

PURPOSE: to present a Commission proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation 1683/95/EC laying down a uniform format for visas. CONTENT: Following on from the Vienna Action Plan for the implementation of the Amsterdam Treaty and the Tampere guidelines, the Commission now proposes measures within the new institutional framework aiming to render travel and residence documents more secure. With the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty and the integration of the Schengen Acquis into the framework of the Treaty, the Commission considers it necessary to adopt additional measures for security reasons such as common rules related to the filling in of the uniform format for visas in order to ensure that the visa sticker is completed in the same way in all the Member States. This proposal laying down a uniform format for visas envisages enlarging the mandate of the Commission establsihed by Article 6 of the Regulation of a uniform visa in line with the procedure set out in Article 5 of Decision 1999/468/EC in compliance with Article 7th thereof. This Committee will be in charge of all implementing measures, especially on common standards related to filling in the form. Finally, the legal bases for the proposals concerning documents issued by Member States to third-country nationals, Residence Permit for third-country nationals, uniform format for affixing visas and an amendment to Regulation 1683/95/EC laying down the uniform format for visas, fall within Title IV of the Treaty and thus imply the variable situation as laid down by the protocols on the position of the UK, IRL and DK. �