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

PURPOSE : to determine those third countries whose nationals must have a visa at the time of crossing Member States' external borders. COMMUNITY MEASURE : Council Regulation 574/1999/EC. CONTENT : the Regulation establishes a list of 100 third countries (including Taiwan) whose nationals must have a visa when crossing the external borders of the Member States. Within the Directive, the word "visa" is defined as an authorisation issued by a Member State, requested in order to enter its territory in view of: a stay in one or several Member States for a period not exceeding three months; a transit across the territory of one or more of the Member States, excluding transit through the international airport zone and of tranfers between airports in the Member States. Some measures allow Member States to decide whether to impose a visa: for third country nationals who are not mentioned on the common list; for stateless persons and statutory refugees; for people showing a passport or a document issued by a body or a territorial authority not recognised as a state by all the Member States and not present on the list. A Member State may allow exceptions to the obligation to have a visa for certain categories of people (air crews or ship crews, crew and members of flight assistance or safety teams, emergency workers in case of disasters or accidents, holders of diplomatic passports, service passports or other official passports). In the first semester of the year 2001, the Commission will prepare a report on the state of policy harmonisation of visas regarding third countries not mentioned on the common list, and will present, if the case arises, other necessary measures in order to harmonise the objectives. ENTRY INTO FORCE : 19/03/1999.�