Division 1.6 The Agreement and bilateral agreements

Article 13 of the Agreement provides that:

‘As from its entry into force, this Agreement shall take precedence over provisions of any bilateral or multilateral agreements or arrangements concluded between individual Member States and the Republic of Azerbaijan, insofar as the provisions of the latter agreements or arrangements cover issues dealt with by this Agreement.’.

As from the date of entry into force of the Agreement, provisions of the bilateral agreements in force between Member States and the Republic of Azerbaijan on issues covered by the Agreement ceased to apply. In accordance with Union law, Member States have to take the necessary measures to eliminate the incompatibilities between their bilateral agreements and the Agreement.

Should a Member State have concluded a bilateral agreement or arrangement with the Republic of Azerbaijan on issues not covered by the Agreement, for instance, providing for the exemption from the visa obligation for holders of service passports, that exemption would continue to apply after the entry into force of the Agreement.

The following Member States have a bilateral agreement with the Republic of Azerbaijan providing for the exemption from the visa obligation for holders of service passports: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Latvia and Slovakia^f1.

The visa exemption for service passport holders granted by a Member State only applies for travelling on the territory of this Member State and not for travelling to the other Schengen Member States.