Types of Agreements

• Author: Eisele, Katharina
• Pages: 165-170

Part III: The External Di mension of the EU Return Dire ctive

165

4. Types of Agreements

There are fo ur types of agr eements which relate to the extern al dimension of the readmission of

returnees from the territory of the EU Member States: (1) formal EU readmission agreements

(EURAs); (2) readmission clauses imbedded in inter national agreements; (3) informal ar rangements;

and (4) F rontex agreem ents in the form of Wor king Arrangements and Status Agreements.

4.1. Fo rmal EU Re admissio n Agre ements (EURAs)

The formal readmission agreements are negotiated by the Commission on the r eceipt of a

negotiatio n mandate from the Cou ncil. The competence to conclude s uch agreements is expressly

provided for by Article 79(3) TFEU (and, for merly, Article 63(3)(b) TEC). These hav e the stat us of

binding internat iona l tr eaties subject to international law between the European Union and the

third country177 and are publicly available.178

Although the formal readmission agreements may have fundamental rights consequences for

return ees, the agreements are between t he concluded parties and to th e exclusion of returnees. As

at March 2020, 18 s uch agreement s have been con cluded (the latest b eing with Belarus) a s set out

in Annex I. The purpose of the agreem ents is to ensur e “rapid, effective procedures for the

identification and safe and orderly return”179 of per sons irregularly pres ent on the terr itory of each

party to the agreement. Accordingly, the agreem ents are textually premised on reciprocal

obliga tions . EURAs s et out the m odalit ies for return, including ann exes listing t he evide ntial bases

for identity, nationality and (where readmission of third count ry nationals and stateless persons are

concerned) transit, and anticipate furt her implementing prot ocols by Member States.

EURAs oblige the contracting states to readmit their irregularly present nationals as well as third

country nationals and s tateless persons who h ad a v alid visa o r residence perm it issued by the

request ed state at the time of ent ering th e request ing state. The ob ligation to read mit third co untry

nationals can be both narrowed (limiting the obligation to readmit to those who arrived dir ectly

from th e requested s tate to the r equesting stat e)180 and broad ened (to include the s pouse of a

national where the spouse has another nationality as well as the child of a national r egardless of that

child’s nat ionalit y). 181

The r eadmiss ion proces s is commenced b y applicat ion in a sta ndardised form. In cases where the

national has a valid travel document or the third country national or stateless person holds a valid

visa or r esiden ce perm it, a n applica tion is not neces sary.

The evidence of nationality and the grounds for third country nationals and stateless persons to be

readmitted are set ou t in the Annexes to the agreement. A two-tier s cheme of evidence is

177 The ter m “ third country” is he re used to inc lude refere nce t o Hong Kong and Macau with whi ch EURAs have been

conclu ded.

178 See European Union External Action Service, Treaties Office Database and Europe an Commission, Migration and Home

Affair s, Return and Readmission.

179 This formulati on is used i n all re admission agre ements e xcept wit h Hong Kong, Macao and R ussia which omi t the wor ds

“safe and orderly”. See Recital 2 in EURAs with Albania, FY ROM, Bosnia and Herz egovin a, Monten egro, Se rbia,

Moldo va, Pakist an, Ge orgia, Ar menia, Az erbaij an; Recit al 3 i n EURAs w ith Hong Kon g, Macao, Sri Lanka and Ukrai ne;

Recital 4 in EURA with Russia; Recital 5 in EURA with Cape Verde.

180 See, for example , Ar ticle s 3(1)(b) i n the EURAs wit h Pakistan and Cape Verde .

181 See EURAs wit h FYROM (Arti cle 2(2 )), Bosnia & Her zegovina (Arti cle 2 (2)), Montene gro (Ar ticle 2(2)), Ser bia (Arti cle 2(2)),

Moldova (A rtic le 2(2 )), Georgia (Ar ticl e 2(a) and (b)), Arme nia (Arti cle 3 (2)), Azer baijan (Art icle 3(2)), Turkey (Art icle 3(2))

and Cape Ver de (Art icle 2(2)).