Visas: third countries whose nationals must be in possession of a visa when they are crossing external borders

The proposed Council Regulation should not be seen in isolation, but should be considered together with the revised convention on external frontiers, CNS0947, which was submitted at the same time as this regulation. The aim of the regulation proposed by the Commission was to determine, in accordance with the new Article 100c of the Treaty, those non-member countries whose nationals needed to have a visa when crossing the Community's external borders. It contained a list of 130 countries whose nationals would have to have a visa when crossing the Community's external borders. The list had been drawn up on the basis of work carried out by nine Member States as part of the Schengen Agreement. In a subsequent phase it was planned for the Council to complete harmonisation in this field by drawing up an exhaustive and binding list of countries whose nationals would be exempt from the visa requirement. The proposed regulation also established the principle of mutual recognition by the Member States of the visas which each of them issued, and in order to ensure transparency and information for the public it also provided that the other Member States and the Commission must be notified of measures taken under these special transitional rules. �