{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2016-1780/schedule-ANNEX/division-I./division-1.2.",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2016-1780/schedule-ANNEX/division-I./division-1.2..json",
  "legislation": "eudn/2016/1780",
  "legislation_title": "Council Decision (EU) 2016/1780 of 29 September 2016 establishing the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the Joint Committee set up under the Agreement between the European Union and Georgia on the facilitation of the issuance of visas, with regard to the adoption of common guidelines for the implementation of that Agreement",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2016-1780",
  "path": "schedule/ANNEX/division/I./division/1.2.",
  "kind": "division",
  "number": "1.2",
  "heading": "Scope of the Agreement",
  "text": "Article 2 of the Agreement provides that:\n‘1. The visa facilitations provided in this Agreement shall apply to citizens of Georgia only in so far as they are not exempted from the visa requirement by the laws and regulations of the Union or the Member States, this Agreement or other international agreements.\n2. The national law of Georgia or of the Member States or Union law shall apply to issues not covered by this Agreement, such as the refusal to issue a visa, recognition of travel documents, proof of sufficient means of subsistence and the refusal of entry and expulsion measures.’.\nThe Agreement, without prejudice to Article 10, does not affect the existing rules on visa obligations and visa exemptions. For instance, Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 allows Member States to exempt from the visa requirement, among other categories of persons, civilian air and sea crews. Since the taking of effect of the association of Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the Schengen area on 13 December 2008 and on 7 March 2011 respectively, residence permits issued by Switzerland and Liechtenstein are recognised as equivalent to Schengen visas for both transit and short stay.\nRegulation (EC) No 810/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Visa Code’) applies to all issues not covered by the Agreement, such as the determination of the Schengen Member State responsible for processing a visa application, the motivation of a refusal to issue a visa, the right to appeal against a negative decision and the general rule of a personal interview with the visa applicant. In addition, Schengen rules and, where appropriate, national law continue also to apply to issues which are not covered by the Agreement, such as the recognition of travel documents, proof of sufficient means of subsistence, the refusal of entry into the territory of the Member States and expulsion measures. In that respect, providing accurate information on these issues is necessary.\nEven if the conditions provided for in the Agreement are met, for example, proof of documentary evidence regarding the purpose of the journey for the categories provided for in Article 4 is provided by the visa applicant, the issuance of the visa can still be refused if the conditions laid down in Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Schengen Borders Code’) are not fulfilled, i.e. the person is not in possession of a valid travel document, an alert in the Schengen Information System (SIS) has been issued, the person is considered a threat to public policy, internal security, etc.\nOther flexibilities in the issuing of visas provided for by the Visa Code continue to apply. For instance, multiple-entry visas for a long period of validity — up to five years — can be issued to categories of persons other than those mentioned in Article 5 of the Agreement, if the conditions provided for in Article 24 of the Visa Code are met. In the same way, the provisions contained in Article 16(5) and (6) of the Visa Code allowing waiver or reduction of the visa fee will continue to apply.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 of 15 March 2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement (OJ L 81, 21.3.2001, p. 1)."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f2",
      "text": "Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas (Visa Code) (OJ L 243, 15.9.2009, p. 1)."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f3",
      "text": "See also point 1.7."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f4",
      "text": "Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) (OJ L 77, 23.3.2016, p. 1)."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2016/1780/schedule/ANNEX/division/I./division/1.2.",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-01T15:13:49.225872+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}