Visas: uniform format for forms for affixing visa for travel documents which are not recognised

PURPOSE: to present a Commission proposal for a Council Regulation on a uniform format for forms for affixing the visa issued by member States to persons holding travel documents which are not recognised by the Member State drawing up the form. 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. The Commission considers that it is important to establish a uniform form for formats for affixing the visa. The draft proposal for a Regulation is based on the work already completed in the Council working groups. The form should be a paper sheet, which meets high security standards, in particular as regards safeguards against counterfeiting and falsification. It should present a support medium for the uniform format for visas in accordance with Council Regulation 1683/95/EC of 29 May 1995 to be affixed in exceptional cases, when the passport is not recognised by the Member State issuing the visa and should not substitute for travel documents. The Commission considers that in the situation, where travel documents exist but are not formally recognised by a Member State, the standard form is designed to provide an alternative support document to ensure that the uniform format can still be issued and applied according to the provisions of Regulation 1683/95/EC. In these circumstances, the form is integral to the implementation of the uniform format itself and should therefore be based on Article 62 (2) (b) (iii) (former Article 100 C). 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. �