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PURPOSE: to conclude
the Agreement between the European Community and the Bahamas on the
short-stay visa waiver. LEGISLATIVE
ACT: Council Decision 2009/897/EC on the conclusion of the Agreement between
the European Community and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas on the short-stay
visa waiver. CONTENT: by
this Decision, the Council approves the Agreement between the European
Community and the Bahamas on the short-stay visa waiver on behalf of the
Community. The content of
this agreement can be summarised as follows: Purpose: this agreement provides for visa-free travel for the citizens of
the European Union and for the citizens of the Bahamas when travelling to the
territory of the other Contracting Party for a maximum period of three months
during a six months period. The citizens
of several Member States are already exempted from the visa obligation by the
Bahamas. A provision has been included in the Agreement stating that the
Bahamas may suspend or terminate the Agreement only in respect of all the
Member States of the European Community and, reciprocally, the Community may
also suspend or terminate the Agreement only in respect of all of its Member
States. The specific situation of the United Kingdom and Ireland is reflected
in the preamble. Scope: the visa waiver covers all categories of persons (ordinary,
diplomatic or service/official passport holders) travelling for all kinds of
purposes, except for the purpose of carrying out a paid activity. For this
latter category, each Member State and also the Bahamas remains free to
impose the visa requirement on the citizens of the other Party in accordance
with the applicable Community or national law. In order to ensure harmonised
implementation, a joint declaration is attached to the Agreement on the
interpretation of the category of persons travelling for the purpose of
carrying out a paid activity. Duration of
stay: the agreement takes into account the
situation of the Member States that do not yet apply the Schengen acquis in
full. As long as they are not part of the Schengen area without internal
borders, the visa waiver confers a right for the nationals of the Bahamas to
stay for three months on the territory of each of those Member States
(Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania), independently of the period calculated for the whole
Schengen area. Territorial
application: in the case of France and t he
Netherlands, the visa waiver would entitle nationals of the six countries to
stay only in those Member States’ European territories. The UK and Ireland
are not taking part in the adoption of this Decision and are not bound by it
or subject to its application. It should be
noted that this Agreement, signed on behalf of the Community on 28 May 2009,
has been provisionally applied since that date subject to its
conclusion at a later date, in accordance with Council
Decision 2009/481/EC. ENTRY INTO FORCE: the Agreement
enters into force when all the necessary formalities have been completed.
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