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) (codification)

• Published date: 23 March 2016
• Official Gazette Publication: Gazzetta ufficiale dell’Unione europea, L 77, 23 marzo 2016,Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, L 77, 23 de marzo de 2016,Journal officiel de l’Union européenne, L 77, 23 mars 2016

02016R0399 — EN — 07.04.2017 — 002.001

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►B 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) (codification) (OJ L 077 23.3.2016, p. 1)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	REGULATION (EU) 2016/1624 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 14 September 2016	L 251	1	16.9.2016
►M2	REGULATION (EU) 2017/458 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15 March 2017	L 74	1	18.3.2017

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▼B

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)

(codification)

TITLE I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter and principles

This Regulation provides for the absence of border control of persons crossing the internal borders between the Member States of the Union.

It lays down rules governing border control of persons crossing the external borders of the Member States of the Union.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions apply:

1. ‘internal borders’ means:

(a) the common land borders, including river and lake borders, of the Member States;

(b) the airports of the Member States for internal flights;

(c) sea, river and lake ports of the Member States for regular internal ferry connections;

2. ‘external borders’ means the Member States’ land borders, including river and lake borders, sea borders and their airports, river ports, sea ports and lake ports, provided that they are not internal borders;

3. ‘internal flight’ means any flight exclusively to or from the territories of the Member States and not landing in the territory of a third country;

4. ‘regular internal ferry connection’ means any ferry connection between the same two or more ports situated on the territory of the Member States, not calling at any ports situated outside the territory of the Member States, and consisting of the transport of passengers and vehicles according to a published timetable;

5. ‘persons enjoying the right of free movement under Union law’ means:

(a) Union citizens within the meaning of Article 20(1) TFEU, and third-country nationals who are members of the family of a Union citizen exercising his or her right to free movement to whom Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 1 ) applies;

(b) third-country nationals and their family members, whatever their nationality, who, under agreements between the Union and its Member States, on the one hand, and those third countries, on the other hand, enjoy rights of free movement equivalent to those of Union citizens;

6. ‘third-country national’ means any person who is not a Union citizen within the meaning of Article 20(1) TFEU and who is not covered by point 5 of this Article;

7. ‘persons for whom an alert has been issued for the purposes of refusing entry’ means any third-country national for whom an alert has been issued in the Schengen Information System (SIS) in accordance with and for the purposes laid down in Articles 24 and 26 of Regulation (EC) No 1987/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 2 );

8. ‘border crossing point’ means any crossing-point authorised by the competent authorities for the crossing of external borders;

9. ‘shared border crossing point’ means any border crossing point situated either on the territory of a Member State or on the territory of a third country, at which Member State border guards and third-country border guards carry out exit and entry checks one after another in accordance with their national law and pursuant to a bilateral agreement;

10. ‘border control’ means the activity carried out at a border, in accordance with and for the purposes of this Regulation, in response exclusively to an intention to cross or the act of crossing that border, regardless of any other consideration, consisting of border checks and border surveillance;

11. ‘border checks’ means the checks carried out at border crossing points, to ensure that persons, including their means of transport and the objects in their possession, may be authorised to enter the territory of the Member States or authorised to leave it;

12. ‘border surveillance’ means the surveillance of borders between border crossing points and the surveillance of border crossing points outside the fixed opening hours, in order to prevent persons from circumventing border checks;

13. ‘second line check’ means a further check which may be carried out in a special location away from the location at which all persons are checked (first line);

14. ‘border guard’ means any public official assigned, in accordance with national law, to a border crossing point or along the border or the immediate vicinity of that border who carries out, in accordance with this Regulation and national law, border control tasks;

15. ‘carrier’ means any natural or legal person whose profession it is to provide transport of persons;

16. ‘residence permit’ means:

(a) all residence permits issued by the Member States according to the uniform format laid down by Council Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002 ( 3 ) and residence cards issued in accordance with Directive 2004/38/EC;

(b) all other documents issued by a Member State to third-country nationals authorising a stay on its territory that have been the subject of a notification and subsequent publication in accordance with Article 39, with the exception of:

(i) temporary permits issued pending examination of a first application for a residence permit as referred to in point (a) or an application for asylum; and

(ii) visas issued by the Member States in the uniform format laid down by Council Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 ( 4 );

17. ‘cruise ship’ means a ship which follows a given itinerary in accordance with a predetermined programme, which includes a programme of tourist activities in the various ports, and which normally neither takes passengers on nor allows passengers to disembark during the voyage;

18. ‘pleasure boating’ means the use of pleasure boats for sporting or tourism purposes;

19. ‘coastal fisheries’ means fishing carried out with the aid of vessels which return every day or within 36 hours to a port situated in the territory of a Member State without calling at a port situated in a third country;

20. ‘offshore worker’ means a person working on an offshore installation located in the territorial waters or in an area of exclusive maritime economic exploitation of the Member States, as defined under the international law of the sea, and who returns regularly by sea or air to the territory of the Member States;

21. ‘threat to public health’ means any disease with epidemic potential as defined by the International Health Regulations of the World Health Organization and other infectious diseases or contagious parasitic diseases if they are the subject of protection provisions applying to nationals of the Member States.

Article 3

Scope

This Regulation shall apply to any person crossing the internal or external borders of Member States, without prejudice to:

(a) the rights of persons enjoying the right of free movement under Union law;

(b) the rights of refugees and persons requesting international protection, in particular as regards non-refoulement.

Article 4

Fundamental Rights

When applying this Regulation, Member States shall act in full compliance with relevant Union law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’), relevant international law, including the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees done at Geneva on 28 July 1951 (‘the Geneva Convention’), obligations related to access to international protection, in particular the principle of non-refoulement, and fundamental rights. In accordance with the general principles of Union law, decisions under this Regulation shall be taken on an individual basis.

TITLE II

EXTERNAL BORDERS

CHAPTER I

Crossing of external borders and conditions for entry

Article 5

Crossing of external borders

1. External borders may be crossed only at border crossing points and during the fixed opening hours. The opening hours shall be clearly indicated at border crossing points which are not open 24 hours a day.

Member States shall notify the list of their border crossing points to the Commission in accordance with Article 39.

2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, exceptions to the obligation to cross external borders only at border crossing points and during fixed opening hours may be allowed:

(a) for individuals or groups of persons, where there is a requirement of a special nature for the occasional crossing of external borders outside border crossing points or outside fixed opening hours, provided that they are in possession of the permits required by national law and that there is no conflict with the interests of public policy and the internal security of the Member States. Member States may make specific arrangements in bilateral agreements. General exceptions provided for by national law and bilateral agreements shall be notified to the Commission pursuant to Article 39;

(b) for individuals or...