Guidlines to Schengen member states
Dear Migration and Home Affairs,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:
All document(s) provided to Schengen member states to assess residence permit/ entry clearance application against public policy, public health and public security, documents can be guidelines, handbook, good practices or any other.
I can understand that there are number of guidelines/ good practices available to member states to help in identify marriage of convenience, or good practices in application processing and the modification
of issued visas.
Yours faithfully,
Mr M. Soha
Dear Mr Soha,
Thank you for your request for access to documents.
Unfortunately you have not indicated your postal address that is required for registering and handling your request in line with the procedural requirements.
Please send us your full postal address at your earliest convenience. Pending your reply, we reserve the right to refuse the registration of your request.
You may, of course, use directly the electronic form for entering your request: http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...
Best regards,
European Commission
Home Affairs and Migration
Access to Documents team
Dear Migration and Home Affairs,
I send postal address through e form, you can check with them.
But I will be pleased to get back answer through asktheeu portal.
Yours faithfully,
Mr M. Soha
Dear Mr Soha,
You have lodged your application via the AsktheEU.org website. Please note that this is a private website which has no link with any institution of the European Union. Therefore the European Commission cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to the use of this system.
As far as the provision of a postal address is concerned, please find below our explanations.
On 1 April 2014, the postal address became a mandatory feature for the purpose of introducing a request for access to documents.
The decision to ask for a postal address from applicants for access to documents was triggered by the following considerations:
- The need to obtain legal certainty as regards the date of receipt of the reply by the applicant under Regulation 1049/2001. Indeed, as foreseen by Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), […] decisions which specify to whom they are addressed, shall be notified to those to whom they are addressed and shall take effect upon such notification. Replies triggering the possibility for administrative or judicial redress are therefore transmitted via registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt. This requires an indication of a valid postal address by the applicant;
- The need to direct the Commission's scarce resources first of all to those requests which have been filed by "real" applicants. With only a compulsory indication of an e-mail address, applicants can easily introduce requests under an invented identity or under the identity of a third person. Asking for a postal address helps the Commission to protect the administration, as well as other citizens and legal persons, from abuse;
- For similar reasons, asking for a compulsory indication of a postal address enables the Commission services to verify whether Article 6(3) of the Regulation, on voluminous requests, is being evaded by introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in its Ryanair judgment, the General Court confirmed that Article 6(3) cannot be evaded by splitting the application into a number of applications. The Commission would like to point out that, in 2012/2013, it received some 57 confirmatory requests from what it suspects to be one single applicant operating under 13 different identities;
- Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident in the sense of Article 2(1) of Regulation 1049/2001 is a precondition for the purpose of correctly applying the exception in Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001 (protection of the privacy and integrity of the individual), which has to be interpreted in accordance with Data Protection Regulation 45/2001. Article 9 of Regulation 45/2001 requires the adequacy of the level of protection afforded by the third country or international organisation when transmitting personal data to third-country residents or legal persons. It follows that, in case of requests for documents which include personal data, the correct application of the data protection rules cannot be ensured in the absence of a postal address enabling the Commission to ascertain that the minimum data protection standards will be respected.
All of these considerations show that the request for and the consequent processing of a postal address is not only appropriate but also strictly necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest within the meaning of Article 5 (a) of Data Protection Regulation 45/2001, namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.
Best regards,
European Commission
Home Affairs and Migration
Access to Documents team
Dear Sir,
We refer to your email dated 22/06/2015 in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on 23/06/2015 under the above-mentioned
reference number.
Your application is currently being handled. However, we will not be in a
position to complete the handling of your application within the time
limit of 15 working days, which expires on 14/07/2015.
An extended time limit is needed as your application concerns documents
held by different services which must be consulted.
Therefore, we have to extend the time limit with 15 working days in
accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding
public access to documents. The new time limit expires on 05/08/2015.
We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours faithfully,
LAURA CORRADO
Head of Unit
European Commission
Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs
Unit B.1 – Legal Migration and Integration
LX46 02/19
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
_____________________________________________
From: Mr M. Soha [[1]mailto:[FOI #2078 email]]
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2015 12:23 PM
To: HOME ACCESS DOCUMENTS
Subject: access to information request - Guidlines to Schengen member
states
Dear Migration and Home Affairs,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in
Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the
following information:
All document(s) provided to Schengen member states to assess residence
permit/ entry clearance application against public policy, public health
and public security, documents can be guidelines, handbook, good practices
or any other.
I can understand that there are number of guidelines/ good practices
available to member states to help in identify marriage of convenience, or
good practices in application processing and the modification
of issued visas.
Yours faithfully,
Mr M. Soha
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #2078 email]
Dear Mr Soha,
Please find below the reply to your request dated 22^nd June 2015.
Best regards,
Home Notifications B1
Secretariat
Dear Mr Soha,
We allow ourselves to re-send you the same reply, but this time with the
Ares registration number (top right position on the document), which makes
this document an official EC document.
Best regards,
Home Notifications B1
Secretariat
_____________________________________________
From: HOME NOTIFICATIONS B1
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2015 5:02 PM
To: [FOI #2078 email]
Cc: HOME NOTIFICATIONS B1
Subject: Access to information request - Guidlines to Schengen member
states - Gestdem 2015/3383 - Ares reference: home.b.1(2015)3650387
Dear Mr Soha,
Please find below the reply to your request dated 22^nd June 2015.
Best regards,
Home Notifications B1
Secretariat