the visa policy of the european union is harmonised and it is a common policy
it is based on three legal instruments applicable to member states namely regulation ec no five hundred and thirty-nine two thousand and one listing the third countries whose nationals are subject to visa requirements and those who are not secondly the visa code covering all procedures and conditions for issuing short-stay schengen visas and finally regulation ec no sixteen eighty-three ninety-five establishing the uniform format for visas
these rules apply to nationals of all third countries subject to visa requirement
the first regulation i referred to establishes a list of third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing external borders this is the so-called negative list
there is also the positive list those nationals who are exempt from that requirement on the basis of different criteria amongst which reciprocity is a basic principle
this regulation is applicable to all eu member states except for the united kingdom and ireland and also to iceland norway and switzerland
in accordance with the principle of reciprocity the eu considers that in the case of nationals from third countries who are exempted from the visa requirement for travelling to the eu member states the third country should provide reciprocal treatment for the eu citizens by exempting them from the visa requirement when travelling to that country
when a third country on the positive list maintains or introduces a visa obligation for nationals of one two or more member states the reciprocity mechanisms apply
this is the framework in which the commission could take steps to obtain the restoration of the visa-free travel by the third country or if that is not achievable to propose retaliatory measures on the temporary restoration of the visa requirement for nationals of that third country
this system has proven to be quite efficient as the steps taken by the commission and drawn up in the periodical reciprocity report show and under this reciprocity mechanism applicable since two thousand and five seventy-five cases of non-reciprocity concerning thirteen third countries of the positive list were notified by member states
since then reciprocity has been established with most of these thirteen countries such as japan panama singapore australia uruguay and costa rica and recently the commission concluded negotiations on a visa waiver with brazil and that will be submitted to you and to the council very soon
problems of non-reciprocity continue to exist for certain member states vis-à-vis the us and canada and this is something that we always bring up with these countries
the mechanism does not apply in case a third country on the negative list maintains or imposes the visa obligation only on nationals of one or more member countries or when the third country applies different conditions for citizens of different member states
the community acquis does not contain rules for such cases and does not provide a specific mechanism so it is very difficult for the eu to intervene
