1. The Commission is aware of the situation concerning the passenger ferry M/V Princess Anastasia.

2. The Commission has not contacted the Finnish authorities on this issue since it does not consider the actions of the Finnish Border Guard to be in violation of the Schengen Borders Code[1].

3 & 4. The term ‘regular ferry connection’, as defined in Article 2(4) of the Schengen Borders Code, only covers ferry connections between ports situated in the territory of Member States and not calling at any ports outside the territory of the Member States. The ferry connection described in the Honourable Member's question regularly calls at a Russian port. Each entry and exit of this ferry into an EU port must, in accordance with the general rules of the Schengen Borders Code, be considered as the crossing of an external border. This is confirmed by Section 3.2.10 of Annex VI to the Schengen Borders Code which provides that ‘[c]hecks shall be carried out on persons on board ferry connections with ports situated in third countries’. The practice of the Finnish Border Guard to stamp passengers’ travel documents on entry and exit at Helsinki is in conformity with the Schengen Borders Code.

This practice does not undermine the possibility for passengers to travel from Russia to Sweden and Estonia via Finland on the basis of one and the same visa. Article 24 of the Visa Code[2], provides for the possibility of issuing a Schengen visa for one, two or multiple entries. Therefore passengers may apply for a multiple-entry visa in view of travelling on a passenger ferry, such as the M/V Princess Anastasia, involving more than one stop in the EU.

• [1] Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 establishing a Community Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code), OJ L 105, 13.4.2006, p. 1.
• [2] 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.

OJ C 154 E, 31/05/2012