# 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, Division 1.5: Situation regarding the Member States that do not yet fully apply the Schengen acquis, Member States that do not participate in the Union common visa policy and associated countries

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

Member States that joined the Union in 2004 (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia), 2007 (Bulgaria and Romania), and 2013 (Croatia) are bound by the Agreement as from its entry into force.
Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania do not yet fully implement the Schengen acquis. They will continue issuing national visas with a validity limited to their own national territory. Once those Member States fully implement the Schengen acquis, they will apply the Agreement in full.
National law continues to apply to all issues not covered by the Agreement until the date of full implementation of the Schengen acquis by those Member States. As from that date, Schengen rules and/or national law shall apply to issues not covered by the Agreement.
Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania are authorised to recognise residence permits, D visas and short stay visas issued by all Schengen Member States and associated countries for short stays on their territory.
According to Article 21 of the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual abolition of checks at the common borders, all Parties to that Convention must recognise the long-stay visas and residence permits issued by each other as valid for short stays on each other's territories. They accept residence permits, D visas and short stay visas of associated countries for entry and short stay and vice versa.
The Agreement does not apply to Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom but includes joint declarations about the desirability of those Member States to conclude bilateral agreements on visa facilitation with the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Although associated to Schengen, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are not bound by the Agreement. However, the Agreement includes a Joint Declaration about the desirability of those Schengen associated countries to conclude, without delay, bilateral agreements on the facilitation of the issuance of short-stay visas with the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The Agreement on the facilitation of the issuance of visas between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Kingdom of Norway was signed on 3 December 2013 and entered into force on 1 June 2015. The Agreement on the facilitation of the issuance of visas between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Swiss Federal Council was signed on 10 October 2016 and entered into force on 1 April 2017. Moreover, the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein on mutual application of the rules, mentioned in the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Azerbaijan on the facilitation of the issuance of visas, entered into force on 15 February 2017.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2018/311/annex/division/I/division/1.5 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2018-311/annex/division-I/division-1.5
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.