As long ago as 11 April 1960, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg signed an agreement abolishing controls on persons crossing their common borders and harmonising their policy on visas. Visitors who needed a visa for a Benelux country were issued with a visa valid for all three. The Schengen Agreement does something similar. No coincidence, since it was modelled on the Benelux Agreement. The Benelux is a forerunner of Schengen.
1. Background
2. Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement
3. Free movement of persons
4. Visa policy
5. Cooperation in justice and police matters
6. Harmonisation of asylum policies
7. Amsterdam Schiphol and other airports
1. Background
Schengen and the European Union
In the 1980s, not all member states of the European Union were in favour of abolishing controls on its internal borders. So on 14 June 1985, the Benelux countries, together with France and Germany, decided to conclude a separate agreement that would simplify travel between them. They signed the Schengen Agreement in the town of the same name in Luxembourg, aiming to abolish all internal border controls on both persons and goods.
Forerunner
Schengen was intended as a first step towards abolishing all controls on the EU’s internal borders. Schengen regulations therefore have to accord with those of the EU. Under article 142 of the Convention (see below), the Schengen countries undertake to harmonise their regulations with agreements made at EU level to create a border-free area.
New members
Italy signed the Schengen Agreement on 27 November 1990, followed by Spain and Portugal on 25 June 1991. Greece signed on 6 November 1992; Austria on 28 April 1995; and Denmark, Finland and Sweden on 19 December 1996. Travellers could already move freely between the last three countries and non-EU countries Norway and Iceland. So a special cooperative agreement was concluded with Norway and Iceland to admit them to the Schengen Area.
On 1 May 2004, ten more countries joined the European Union: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. As per January 1st, 2007 Bulgaria and Rumania also joined the European Union. But these countries have not yet joined Schengen. Before this can happen, the European Council has to assess them individually on whether they meet the requirements to join. It is therefore unlikely that they will all join at the same time.
Incorporation into the EU
The Treaty of Amsterdam, concluded in June 1997, incorporated the Schengen Agreement into the EU framework. The only EU member states still outside the Schengen Area are the UK and Ireland, which, owing to their geographical position, have chosen to maintain border controls with other EU member states.
Chronology
1985 Five countries (the Benelux countries, Germany and France) sign the Schengen Agreement.
1990 The Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement is signed. Italy joins Schengen.
1991 Spain and Portugal join Schengen.
1992 Greece joins Schengen.
1994 On 22 December, the parties meet in Bonn and decide to apply the Convention as of 26 March 1995.
1995 On 26 March, the Convention comes into force in seven countries: the Benelux countries, Germany, France, Portugal and Spain. Austria joins Schengen.
1996 Denmark, Sweden and Finland join Schengen.
1997 Schengen is incorporated into the framework of the European Union (EU). The Convention is extended to Italy, Austria and Greece, which maintains border controls.
2000 Greece begins to participate fully in the Convention, abolishing border controls.
2001 The Convention comes into full force in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, as well as in the non-EU countries Iceland and Norway.
2. Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement
The Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement was signed on 19 June 1990. It abolished controls on the common borders of the Schengen countries, replacing them with controls on the external borders. To compensate for the loss of internal border controls, the Schengen countries harmonised their visa and asylum policies. They also set up the Schengen Information System (SIS) and stepped up cooperation among their police services and criminal justice authorities.
Application of the Schengen Agreement
Owing to technical problems in setting up the Schengen Information System, the Convention’s entry into force was delayed until 26 March 1995. And even then it took place only in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. The other countries had not yet made the necessary preparations to apply the Convention. Since the Convention’s entry into force, France has reintroduced controls on its northern borders out of dissatisfaction with Dutch drugs policy.
3. Free movement of persons
Schengen’s most noticeable impact on individuals is that they no longer have to show their passports when crossing borders between Schengen countries. But this does not mean that travelling within the Schengen Area is the same as travelling within a single country. Once in another country, travellers are aliens, and the laws of that country apply to them. This means that they have to carry proof of identity, such as a valid travel document (a passport or European Identity Card). In October 2001, the European Identity Card was replaced by a Dutch identity card in credit card format.
Visitors to the Schengen Area from certain countries also require a Schengen visa or a residence permit issued by a Schengen country.
Since the twelve new member states are not yet Schengen countries, their nationals are still subject to external border controls when entering the Schengen Area. Polish nationals driving from Poland to the Netherlands, for instance, are checked on the German-Polish border.
Countries covered by the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement (no internal border controls)
EU member states:
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.
Non-EU countries:
Iceland and Norway.
Free movement – for how long?
Whether they need a visa or not, nationals of non-EU countries may travel freely in the Schengen Area only for a maximum of three months. This has long been the customary limit on short stays in the Schengen countries. Now that they have abolished internal border controls, it applies to the entire Schengen Area.
Visitors still require a visa or residence permit to stay longer than three months. Since this is not specified in the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement, it is up to the individual countries to set their own requirements.
Identity documents and visa requirements
– Passport (valid throughout the world)
– a European Identity Card (valid in over 27 European countries).
N.B. In October 2001, the European Identity Card was replaced by a Dutch identity card in credit card format.
4. Visa policy
Visitors to the Schengen Area from certain countries need a Schengen visa. The Schengen countries have now almost completely harmonised visa policy.
Harmonisation of visa requirements
On 15 March 2001, the Council of the European Union adopted a regulation ” listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders of member states and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement”. The regulation came into force on 10 April 2001. It fully harmonises these two lists. The ten new member states adopted the regulation when they joined the EU on 1 May 2004.
Harmonisation of visa conditions
The Schengen countries have agreed to pursue a common visa policy. This means that they all issue visas under the same conditions, taking account of each other’s interests. A visa issued by one Schengen country is therefore also valid for the others, which benefits foreign nationals wanting to visit more than one Schengen country.
Restricted visas
In exceptional cases, visitors are issued with a visa valid only for the Schengen country issuing it. Such cases arise for humanitarian reasons or reasons relating to national interest or compliance with international obligations. The ten new member states may issue Schengen visas only once they have signed the Schengen Agreement. Until then, they may only issue visas valid in their own territory.
Visa stickers
The Schengen countries issue identical visas in the form of a sticker, which is protected against falsification by high-tech security features. To cut down waiting times at the external borders, the visas are equipped with a machine-readable magnetic strip. The ten new member states have already redesigned their visas. They now look like Schengen visa stickers.
Cooperation between embassies
The embassies of the Schengen countries work closely together in carrying out visa policy. They lay down rules specifying which embassies should process visa applications for visiting more than one Schengen country. Not every Schengen country has diplomatic missions (consulates or embassies) in every other country. In such cases, embassies issue visas for each other.
Honorary consuls are no longer allowed to issue visas – which in practice has caused little inconvenience, since most countries have at least one professional diplomatic mission representing a Schengen country. The ten new member states may be represented by a Schengen country’s diplomatic mission only once they have joined Schengen.
5. Cooperation in justice and police matters
To compensate for the abolition of internal border controls, the Schengen countries have stepped up cooperation among their police services and criminal justice authorities. Their police services, for example, have agreed to provide each other with information, both on their own initiative and on request.
The Schengen countries have also reached agreement on the surveillance and pursuit of suspects on each other’s territory. The German police, for instance, are allowed to pursue suspects ten kilometres into Dutch territory, after which the Dutch police may take over. Police forces on either side of the border maintain close contact to ensure that such operations run smoothly.
Drugs
The Schengen countries have agreed that they may each pursue their own drugs policy as long as they take account of its impact on the others. They are also stepping up the fight against international drug trafficking, by such measures as tightening external border controls, particularly at ports and airports.
The Schengen countries have also taken other measures:
The Netherlands has concluded agreements with Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg for closer cooperation between their police services. France and the Netherlands have signed an agreement on customs cooperation, and have set up an exchange scheme for customs officials, police officers, judges and public prosecutors;
The police and judicial authorities in the Netherlands, Belgium and France are working in close partnership to combat drugs tourism and curb drug smuggling along the Lille-Antwerp-Hazeldonk-Rotterdam route;
The Schengen countries have seconded police drugs liaison officers to each other’s embassies, and other countries have seconded police drugs liaison officers to their embassies in the Netherlands.
International legal assistance
Schengen has also simplified international assistance procedures such as extradition, supplementing existing agreements on combating crime concluded by the Benelux and the Council of Europe. The Schengen Agreement’s provisions on mutual legal assistance make it easier to tackle international crime effectively.
The Schengen Information System (SIS)
The Schengen Information System (SIS) is a very large computer database that plays an essential part in the workings of the Schengen Agreement. It is used by the authorities responsible for conducting external borders controls, conducting internal police and customs controls, issuing visa and residence permits, and applying legislation on immigrants.
The SIS contains records describing persons and objects wanted by or missing in each Schengen country. It is constantly updated and accessible at all times throughout the Schengen Area. It consists of separate sections for each Schengen country, but its overall management is coordinated by a technical support unit in Strasbourg, France. The SIS is structured in such a way that it can be expanded to include the United Kingdom and Ireland. An upgrade database, SIS II, is currently being developed to accommodate the enlargement of the European Union.
ICT
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has introduced a computer-assisted system for its missions (consulates and embassies) to issue visas. The missions are linked online with the Ministry in The Hague, so they always have access to up-to-the-minute information.
6. Harmonisation of asylum policies
The Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement includes provisions concerning asylum. These provisions apply only to the Schengen countries and have been superseded by the Dublin Convention, which applies to all EU member states. The Dublin Convention, which came into force in 1997, helps harmonise EU asylum policy by specifying which member states are responsible for dealing with which asylum applications. The Convention was amended in 2003 to make it more effective.
7. Amsterdam Schiphol and other airports
The Schengen Agreement affects passengers arriving at international airports. At airports such as Amsterdam Schiphol, the procedures applying to passengers travelling to and from non-Schengen countries differ from those applying to ” Schengen passengers” (those travelling within the Schengen Area). Nationality is not a factor in these procedures. Schengen passengers need not show their passports, although their luggage may be checked. Practically all airports in the Schengen Area introduced separate Schengen and non-Schengen facilities on 26 March 1995.
