{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2018-311/annex/division-I/division-1.2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2018-311/annex/division-I/division-1.2.json",
  "legislation": "eudn/2018/311",
  "legislation_title": "Council Decision (EU) 2018/311 of 27 February 2018 establishing the position to be taken on behalf of the Union within the Joint Committee set up under the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Azerbaijan 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-2018-311",
  "path": "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 the Union and of the Republic of Azerbaijan only insofar as they are not exempted from the visa requirement by the laws and regulations of the Republic of Azerbaijan, of the Union or the Member States, this Agreement or other international Agreements.\n2. The national law of the Republic of Azerbaijan or of the Member States or Union law shall apply to issues not covered by the provisions of 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 thereof (which provides for the exemption from the visa requirement for the citizens of the Union and the Republic of Azerbaijan who are holders of valid diplomatic passports) does not affect the existing rules on visa obligations and visa exemptions. For instance, Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 allows the Member States to exempt from the visa requirement, among other categories of persons, civilian air and sea crews.\nIn that context it should be added that in accordance with Article 21 of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders, all Schengen Member States must recognise long-stay visas and residence permits issued by each other as valid for short stays on each other's territories. All Schengen Member States accept residence permits, D visas and short stay visas of Schengen associated countries for entry and short stay and vice versa.\nRegulation (EC) No 810/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (the ‘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 the personal interview with the visa applicant and providing all relevant information in relation to the visa application. Furthermore, Schengen rules notably Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council (i.e. the refusal of entry in the territory, proof of sufficient means of subsistence etc.) and national law, where appropriate, 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 in the territory of the Member States and expulsion measures.\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 to be 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.\nIn terms of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Migration Code and other corresponding normative legal acts of the Republic of Azerbaijan applies to all issues not covered by the Agreement, such as the motivation of refusal to issue a visa, the right to appeal against a negative decision or the general rule of the personal interview with the applicant and providing information in relation to the visa application, recognition of travel documents, proof of sufficient means of subsistence, the refusal of entry in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, expulsion measures.\nOther flexibilities in the issuing of visas allowed for by the national law of the Republic of Azerbaijan continue to apply if they set a more favourable regime for the applicant. For instance, the provisions of Article 17(2) of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan ‘On State Fees’ allowing waiv of the visa fee and of Article 38 of the Migration Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan allowing issuance of the electronic visas will continue to apply.\nEven if the conditions foreseen in the Agreement are met, for example, proof of documentary evidence regarding the purpose of the journey for the categories foreseen in Article 4 is provided by the visa applicant, the issuance of the visa still can be refused if the conditions laid down in Article 36 of the Migration Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan (except for paragraph 36.1.7 thereof) are not fulfilled or if there are circumstances listed in Article 16 of the Migration Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "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 EU L 81, 21.3.2001, p. 1)."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f2",
      "text": "OJ EU L 239, 22.9.2000, p. 19."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f3",
      "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 EU L 243, 15.9.2009, p. 1)."
    },
    {
      "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 EU L 77, 23.3.2016, p. 1)."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f5",
      "text": "The Migration Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan was adopted by the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan No 713-IVQ, on July 2, 2013 and entered into force in August 1, 2013."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2018/311/annex/division/I/division/1.2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-01T15:13:10.698397+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."
}