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

OBJECTIVE: to draw up a list of third countries, common to all the Member States, whose nationals are required to obtain a visa to enter the territory of the Union. SUBSTANCE: this proposal should not be considered in isolation, but together with the revised draft convention on the crossing of the external frontiers of the Community (see CNS0947). The objective of the proposal is to determine, pursuant to Article 100C of the TEU, the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of a visa when crossing the external borders of the Community. Its annex lists 127 third countries, drawn up on the basis of work already carried out by nine countries in the context of the Schengen Agreement, whose nationals are required to obtain a visa to enter the territory of the Union. It is planned that at a later stage the Council will complete harmonization in this area by drawing up an exhaustive and binding list of countries whose nationals are exempt from the visa requirement. The proposal also establishes the principle of mutual recognition by the Member States of visas granted by each of them and provides, with a view to ensuring transparency and public information, that measures taken pursuant to the derogation regime (people who are exempted from the visa requirement) must be notified to the other Member States and to the Commission. �