External Borders Convention
01 January 1991
External Borders Convention
artdoc August=1992
The proposed Treaty on External Borders, which Home Secretary
Kenneth Clarke recently denied knowing was secret, has been
awaiting the signature of the twelve EC states since June of last
year, when it was held up over disagreements between Spain and
Britain over Gibraltar.
An examination of this `secret' Treaty reveals that like the
Dublin Convention, signed in June 1990, which defined the country
responsible for dealing with an asylum-seeker's application, the
External Controls treaty takes important issues of immigration
control, policing and information exchange out of the purview of
the institutions of the EC. This means that neither the European
Parliament nor the Court of Justice of the Community will have
any power to intervene to protect the rights of those affected
by it.
Some of the key provisions of the draft Treaty are: 1)
sanctions for the crossing of external borders other than at
authorised places and times; 2) a duty of `effective
surveillance' of all external borders by member states, including
a duty of cooperation by surveillance services; 3) rigorous
controls, by visa and other requirements, on the entry of third
country nationals; 4) carrier sanctions for airlines and other
passenger carriers who fail to ensure that third country
nationals have the necessary travel documents and visas; 5) a
common list of countries whose nationals require visas to enter
any of the member states; 6) the provision of a uniform visa,
valid for all member states, on common conditions and criteria,
authorising a total stay of three months; 7) limited `visiting
rights' but no free movement for third country nationals already
living in the Community; 8) the establishment of a joint
computerised list of `inadmissible' third country nationals, by
reference to the commission of immigration or other offences or
a reasonable belief that the person is planning to commit a
serious offence.
It is clear from the draft that many aspects of immigration
control are to be shifted from the national to the European
level, probably without the benefit of any informed debate. If
Parliament and public are to have time to debate the new
Convention then it will have to be published quickly because it
is due to be signed in Edinburgh in December.
European Information System
Under the Convention the European Information System (EIS) will
hold a joint computerised list from the national list of the 12
EC states on `inadmissible third country nationals' (aliens). The
Introduction says that the aim of the controls is to `eliminate
risks to public order and public security ... and to combat
illegal immigration'. The joint list will not include nationals
of member states. The criteria for putting people to be excluded
from the EC on the list are: 1) that they have served a custodial
sentence of one year or more; 2) that `information to the effect
that the person has committed a serious crime'(italics added);
3) serious grounds for believing they are planning a serious
crime, represent a threat to public order or national security
of a member state; 4) have committed a serious offence in
relation to entry or residence of aliens (Article 10). People
wanting to visit an EC country (short stays) will be checked
against the computer list and will not be allowed entry if their
presence would endanger public order, national security or the
`international relations of member states' (Article 7).
Under Article 25 an inter-governmental Executive Committee will
be set up and it will be serviced by the General Secretariat of
the Council of the EC (inter-governmental co-operation means that
the European Parliament will have no say and that policies and
practices are not subject to the Court of Justice of the EC). The
European Commission will be allowed to participate in the work
of the Executive Committee and its working parties.
Draft Conven