ANNEX VIISupplementary provisions
ANNEX VII Special rules for certain categories of persons 1. Heads of State By way of derogation from Article 6 and Articles 8 to 14, Heads of State and the members of their delegation, whose arrival and departure have been officially announced through diplomatic channels to the border guards, may not be subject to border checks. 2. Pilots of aircraft and other crew members 2.1. By way of derogation from Article 6 the holders of a pilot’s licence or a crew member certificate as provided for in Annex 9 to the Civil Aviation Convention of 7 December 1944 may, in the course of their duties and on the basis of those documents: (a) embark and disembark in the stop-over airport or the airport of arrival situated in the territory of a Member State; (b) enter the territory of the municipality of the stop-over airport or the airport of arrival situated in the territory of a Member State; (c) go, by any means of transport, to an airport situated in the territory of a Member State in order to embark on an aircraft departing from that same airport. In all other cases, the requirements provided for by Article 6(1) shall be fulfilled. 2.2. Articles 7 to 14 shall apply to checks on aircraft crew members. Wherever possible, priority will be given to checks on aircraft crews. Specifically, they will be checked either before passengers or at special locations set aside for the purpose. By way of derogation from Article 8, crews known to staff responsible for border controls in the performance of their duties may be subject to random checks only. 3. Seamen By way of derogation from Articles 5 and 8, Member States may authorise seamen holding a seafarer’s identity document issued in accordance with the International Labour Organization (ILO) Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention No 108 (1958) or No 185 (2003), the Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL Convention) and the relevant national law, to enter the territory of the Member States by going ashore to stay in the area of the port where their ships call or in the adjacent municipalities, or exit the territory of the Member States by returning to their ships, without presenting themselves at a border crossing point, on condition that they appear on the crew list, which has previously been submitted for checking by the competent authorities, of the ship to which they belong. However, on the basis of an assessment of the risks of internal security and illegal immigration, seamen shall be subject to a check in accordance with Article 8 by the border guards before they go ashore. 4. Holders of diplomatic, official or service passports and members of international organisations 4.1. In view of the special privileges or immunities they enjoy, the holders of diplomatic, official or service passports issued by third countries or their Governments recognised by the Member States, as well as the holders of documents issued by the international organisations listed in point 4.4 who are travelling in the course of their duties, may be given priority over other travellers at border crossing points even though they remain, where applicable, subject to the requirement for a visa. By way of derogation from Article 6(1)(c), persons holding those documents shall not be required to prove that they have sufficient means of subsistence. 4.2. If a person presenting himself or herself at the external border invokes privileges, immunities and exemptions, the border guard may require him or her to provide evidence of his or her status by producing the appropriate documents, in particular certificates issued by the accrediting State or a diplomatic passport or other means. If he or she has doubts, the border guard may, in case of urgent need, apply direct to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 4.3. Accredited members of diplomatic missions and of consular representations and their families may enter the territory of the Member States on presentation of the card referred to in Article 20(2) and of the document authorising them to cross the border. Moreover, by way of derogation from Article 14 border guards may not refuse the holders of diplomatic, official or service passports entry to the territory of the Member States without first consulting the appropriate national authorities. This shall also apply where an alert has been entered in the SIS for such persons. 4.4. The documents issued by the international organisations for the purposes specified in point 4.1 are in particular the following: — United Nations laissez-passer issued to staff of the United Nations and subordinate agencies under the Convention on Privileges and Immunities of Specialised Agencies adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 21 November 1947 in New York, — European Union (EU) laissez-passer , — European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) laissez-passer , — legitimacy certificate issued by the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, — documents issued pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article III of the Agreement between the Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty regarding the Status of their Force (military ID cards accompanied by a travel order, travel warrant, or an individual or collective movement order) as well as documents issued in the framework of the Partnership for Peace. 5. Cross-border workers 5.1. The procedures for checking cross-border workers are governed by the general rules on border control, in particular Articles 8 and 14. 5.2. By way of derogation from Article 8, cross-border workers who are well known to the border guards owing to their frequent crossing of the border at the same border crossing point and who have not been revealed by an initial check to be the subject of an alert in the SIS or in a national data file shall be subject only to random checks to ensure that they hold a valid document authorising them to cross the border and fulfil the necessary entry conditions. Thorough checks shall be carried out on those persons from time to time, without warning and at irregular intervals. 5.3. The provisions of point 5.2 may be extended to other categories of regular cross-border commuters. 6. Minors 6.1. Border guards shall pay particular attention to minors, whether travelling accompanied or unaccompanied. Minors crossing an external border shall be subject to the same checks on entry and exit as adults, as provided for in this Regulation. 6.2. In the case of accompanied minors, the border guard shall check that the persons accompanying minors have parental care over them, especially where minors are accompanied by only one adult and there are serious grounds for suspecting that they may have been unlawfully removed from the custody of the person(s) legally exercising parental care over them. In the latter case, the border guard shall carry out a further investigation in order to detect any inconsistencies or contradictions in the information given. 6.3. In the case of minors travelling unaccompanied, border guards shall ensure, by means of thorough checks on travel documents and supporting documents, that the minors do not leave the territory against the wishes of the person(s) having parental care over them. 6.4. Member States shall nominate national contact points for consultation on minors and inform the Commission thereof. A list of these national contact points shall be made available to the Member States by the Commission. 6.5. Where there is doubt as to any of the circumstances set out in points 6.1., 6.2. and 6.3., border guards shall make use of the list of national contact points for consultation on minors. 7. Rescue services, police, fire brigades and border guards The arrangements for the entry and exit of members of rescue services, police, fire brigades acting in emergency situations as well as border guards crossing the border in exercise of their professional tasks shall be laid down by national law. Member States may conclude bilateral agreements with third countries on the entry and exit of those categories of persons. These arrangements and bilateral agreements may provide for derogations from Articles 5, 6 and 8. 8. Offshore workers By way of derogation from Articles 5 and 8, offshore workers who regularly return by sea or air to the territory of the Member States without having stayed on the territory of a third country shall not be systematically checked. Nevertheless, an assessment of the risks of illegal immigration, in particular where the coastline of a third country is located in the immediate vicinity of an offshore site, shall be taken into account in order to determine the frequency of the checks to be carried out.