EUR-Lex Access to European Union law

Back to EUR-Lex homepage

This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website

Document 31998D0701

98/701/JHA: Council Decision of 3 December 1998 on common standards relating to filling in the uniform format for residence permits

OJ L 333, 9.12.1998, p. 8–16 (ES, DA, DE, EL, EN, FR, IT, NL, PT, FI, SV)

This document has been published in a special edition(s) (CS, ET, LV, LT, HU, MT, PL, SK, SL, BG, RO, HR)

Legal status of the document In force

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/1998/701/oj

9.12.1998   

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 333/8


COUNCIL DECISION

of 3 December 1998

on common standards relating to filling in the uniform format for residence permits

(98/701/JHA)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to Joint Action 97/11/JHA of 16 December 1996 concerning a uniform format for residence permits (1), and in particular Article 2(1) thereof,

Whereas it is necessary to establish common standards relating to filling in the said format, so as to ensure the uniform aspect thereof;

Whereas this Decision does not affect the competence of Member States relating to the recognition of States and territorial entities, as well as of passports and travel documents issued by these States or entities; whereas the attribution of the codes in the Appendix to this Decision is of a purely administrative nature and is without prejudice to the determination of the nationality of third country residents,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

The uniform format for residence permits shall be filled in in accordance with the procedures contained in the Annex hereto.

Article 2

The Council shall examine, at least once a year, the procedures and codes contained in the Annex and the Appendix hereto with a view to adapting them.

Article 3

This Decision shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Done at Brussels, 3 December 1998.

For the Council

The President

K. SCHLÖGL


(1)  OJ L 7, 10. 1. 1997, p. 1.


ANNEX

I.   PROCEDURES FOR COMPLETION OF THE COMMON REFERENCE AREA OF THE STICKER IN THE UNIFORM FORMAT OF THE RESIDENCE PERMIT.

The format adopted for the sticker is in ID2 format (conforming with the dimensions for the ID2 type card (ISO7810)).

There are eight spaces to be completed in accordance with the technical specifications, where appropriate, as follows:

1.   Permit No

The number of the document shall appear in this space (protected by special security features and preceded by a letter code), in accordance with part one paragraph 3.7 (initial letters) as detailed in paragraph 3.2) of the technical specifications.

2.   Name

The surname(s) and first name(s) shall be inserted here in order. The surname(s) and first name(s) on the document to which the sticker is attached must be exactly the same as those on the sticker.

3.   ‘Valid until’ space

The relevant date of expiry shall be entered in this space or, if necessary, a word or a code indicating unlimited validity.

Member States shall forward to the General Secretariat of the Council the various words or codes referred to in the previous subparagraph, to enable the Secretariat to draw up a list for distribution to all Member States. Such a list could also be used as an additional device for discovering falsifications.

Where an expiry date is entered, the date must be entered by means of three groups of two figures in the following order, two for the day, two for the month and two for the year, to be separated by a hyphen, and the first figure shall be a nought where the number is lower than 10 (e.g. 15-01-96: 15 January 1996).

4.   Place/date of issue

This space shall indicate the place and date of issue of the residence permit.

The date of issue shall be entered by means of three groups of two figures in the order laid down in the third subparagraph of point 3.

5.   Type of permit

This space shall show the specific type of the residence permit issued by the Member State to the national of a third country.

This space should not be harmonised because of disparities between the laws of the Member States. However, Member States will forward to the General Secretariat of the Council the various references they include in this space to enable the Secretariat to draw up a list for distribution to all Member States. Such a list could also be used as an additional device for discovering falsifications.

6.   Remarks

Member States may enter in this space information and remarks for national use which are required by national provisions concerning nationals from third countries, including information on authorisation to work and passport number.

Member States will forward to the General Secretariat of the Council the various permanent references they include in this space to enable the Secretariat to draw up a list for distribution to all Member States. Such a list could also be used as an additional device for discovering falsifications.

7.   Date/signature/authorisation

Where necessary, the issuing authority may affix here its signature and its stamp and/or require the holder to affix his signature.

If this space is used, the date should be entered by means of three groups of two figures in the order laid down in the third subparagraph of point 3.

Where the Member State's legislation or practices require the affixing of an issuing-office stamp, the stamp should be located in the rectangle bounded on the right by the right edge of the sticker, on the left by the ‘Remarks’ box, above by the emblem of the Member State and below by the machine-readable area.

It is also desirable that the stamp consist of a rectangle 1 cm high × 2,5 cm wide showing the name of the authority issuing the residence permit and the signature and/or the date. The signature and/or the date should be framed on each side by three parallel horizontal lines, the middle one being half as long as the other two.

8.   Machine-readable area

The area reserved for machine reading (including codes indicating nationality or other status) shall be completed in accordance with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), as set out in the technical specification. On the second line, either the number of the permit or the passport number shall be recorded. The three codes relating to the nationality or status of the permit holder shall be entered in accordance with the list in the Appendix.

Member States shall notify the General Secretariat of the Council whether they intend to record the permit or the passport number. The Secretariat will circulate this information to all Member States.

II.   PROCEDURES FOR COMPLETION OF THE COMMON REFERENCE AREA OF THE STAND-ALONE DOCUMENT IN THE UNIFORM FORMAT OF THE RESIDENCE PERMIT.

The format adopted for the stand-alone document is either the ID1 or ID2 format in accordance with ISO standard 7810.1995. In both formats there are 12 boxes to be completed in accordance with the technical specifications where appropriate.

A.   FRONT

1.   Permit No

The number of the document shall appear in this space preceded by a letter code, in accordance with Part 2 of paragraph 3.2 (initial letter(s) as detailed in Part I, paragraph 3.2) of the technical specifications.

2.   Name

The surname(s) and first name(s) shall be inserted here in order.

3.   ‘Valid until’ space

The corresponding date of expiry shall be entered in this space or, if necessary, a word or a code indicating unlimited validity.

Member States shall forward to the General Secretariat of the Council the various words or codes referred to in the previous subparagraph, to enable the Secretariat to draw up a list for distribution to all Member States. Such a list could also be used as an additional device for discovering falsifications.

Where an expiry date is entered, the date must be entered by means of three groups of two figures in the following order, two for the day, two for the month and two for the year, to be separated by a hyphen, and the first figure shall be a nought where the number is lower than 10 (e.g. 15-01-96: 15 January 1996).

4.   Place/date of issue

This space shall indicate the place and date of issue of the residence permit.

The date of issue shall be entered by means of three groups of two figures in the order laid down in the third subparagraph of point 3.

5.   Type of permit

This space shall show the specific type of the residence permit issued by the Member State to the national of a third country.

This space should not be harmonised because of disparities between the laws of the Member States. However, Member States will forward to the General Secretariat of the Council the various references they include in this space to enable the Secretariat to draw up a list for distribution to all Member States. Such a list could also be used as an additional device for discovering falsifications.

6.   Remarks

Member States may enter in this space information and remarks for national use which are required by national provisions concerning nationals from third countries, incuding information on authorisation to work.

Member States will forward to the General Secretariat of the Council the various permanent references they include in this space to enable the Secretariat to draw up a list for distribution to all Member States. Such a list could also be used as an additional device for discovering falsifications.

7.   Date/signature/authorisation

Where necessary, the issuing authority may affix here its signature and its stamp and/or require the holder to affix his signature.

If this space is used, the date should be entered by means of three groups of two figures in the order laid down in the third subparagraph of point 3.

Where the Member State's legislation or practices require the affixing of an issuing-office stamp, the stamp could be located in the rectangle bounded on the right by the right edge of the standalone document, on the left by the ‘Remarks’ box, above by the emblem of the Member State and below by the base of the card in the ID1 format, or by the machine-readable area in the ID2 format.

It is also desirable that the stamp consist of a rectangle 1 cm high x 2,5 cm (1) wide showing the name of the authority issuing the residence permit and the signature and/or the date; the signature and/or the date should be framed on each side by three parallel horizontal lines, the middle one being half as long as the other two.

B.   BACK

Where there is a stand-alone document, the following additional references shall appear on the back.

8.   Date and place of birth

Reference to the place and date of birth of the holder of the residence permit shall be entered here.

The place of birth shall be the name of the city, if known, as well as the country where the holder of the permit was born. Reference to the country of birth must be given since the holder's nationality may be different from the country of his birth.

The date of birth shall be entered by means of three groups of two figures in the order laid down in the third subparagraph of point 3.

9.   Nationality

The nationality or any other status of the holder of the residence permit shall be entered here.

Reference to the nationality shall be by reference to the name of the country of which the foreigner is a national, or to any other relevant status, e.g. Colombia.

10.   Sex

The sex of the holder of the residence permit shall be entered here in accordance with ICAO standards for the machine-readable zone.

Member States will forward to the General Secretariat of the Council the various references they include in this box to enable the Secretariat to draw up a list for distribution to all Member States. Such a list could also be used as an additional device for discovering falsifications.

11.   Remarks

Member States may enter in this box information and remarks for national use which are required by national provisions concerning nationals from third countries, for example the holder's address.

Member States will forward to the General Secretariat of the Council the various references they include in this box to enable the Secretariat to draw up a list for distribution to all Member States. Such a list could also be used as an additional device for discovering falsifications.

12.   Machine-readable area

(on reverse side of the document in ID1 format and on the front of the document in ID2 format)

The area reserved for machine reading (including codes indicating nationality or other status) shall be completed in accordance with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), as set out in the technical specification. The three codes relating to the nationality or status of the permit holder shall be entered in accordance with the list in the Appendix.


(1)  For ID1format, these dimensions should be reduced by half.

Appendix

List of the codes for entering the nationality or status of the holder of the residence permit in the machine-readable area

 

Country

Code

EUROPE

 

Albania

ALB

 

Andorra

AND

 

Armenia

ARM

 

Azerbaijan

AZE

 

Belarus

BLR

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina

BIH

 

Bulgaria

BGR

 

Croatia

HRV

 

Cyprus

CYP

 

Czech Republic

CZE

 

Estonia

EST

 

Georgia

GEO

 

Holy See (Vatican City State)

VAT

 

Hungary

HUN

 

Latvia

LVA

 

Lithuania

LTU

 

Malta

MLT

 

Moldova, Republic of

MDA

 

Monaco

MCO

 

Poland

POL

 

Romania

ROM

 

Russian Federation

RUS

 

San Marino

SMR

 

Slovakia

SVK

 

Slovenia

SVN

 

Switzerland

CHE

 

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

FRM

 

Turkey

TUR

 

Ukraine

UKR

 

Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of

YUG

AFRICA

Algeria

DZA

 

Angola

AGO

 

Benin

BEN

 

Botswana

BWA

 

Burkina Faso

BFA

 

Burundi

BDI

 

Cameroon

CMR

 

Cape Verde

CPV

 

Central African Republic

CAF

 

Chad

TCD

 

Comoros

COM

 

Congo

COG

 

Congo, the Democratic Republic of the

COD

 

Cote d'Ivoire

CIV

 

Djibouti

DJI

 

Egypt

EGY

 

Equatorial Guinea

GNQ

 

Eritrea

ERI

 

Ethiopia

ETH

 

Gabon

GAB

 

Gambia

GMB

 

Ghana

GHA

 

Guinea

GIN

 

Guinea-Bissau

GNB

 

Kenya

KEN

 

Lesotho

LSO

 

Liberia

LBR

 

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

LBY

 

Madagascar

MDG

 

Malawi

MWI

 

Mali

MLI

 

Mauritania

MRT

 

Mauritius

MUS

 

Morocco

MAR

 

Mozambique

MOZ

 

Namibia

NAM

 

Niger

NER

 

Nigeria

NGA

 

Rwanda

RWA

 

Sao Tome and Principe

STP

 

Senegal

SEN

 

Seychelles

SYC

 

Sierra Leone

SLE

 

Somalia

SOM

 

South Africa

ZAF

 

Sudan

SDN

 

Swaziland

SWZ

 

Tanzania, United Republic of

TZA

 

Togo

TGO

 

Tunisia

TUN

 

Uganda

UGA

 

Zambia

ZMB

 

Zimbabwe

ZWE

AMERICA

 

Antigua and Barbuda

ATG

 

Argentina

ARG

 

Bahamas

BHS

 

Barbados

BRB

 

Belize

BLZ

 

Bolivia

BOL

 

Brazil

BRA

 

Canada

CAN

 

Chile

CHL

 

Colombia

COL

 

Costa Rica

CRI

 

Cuba

CUB

 

Dominica

DMA

 

Dominican Republic

DOM

 

Ecuador

ECU

 

El Salvador

SLV

 

Grenada

GRD

 

Guatemala

GTM

 

Guyana

GUY

 

Haiti

HTI

 

Honduras

HND

 

Jamaica

JAM

 

Mexico

MEX

 

Nicaragua

NIC

 

Panama

PAN

 

Paraguay

PRY

 

Peru

PER

 

Saint Kitts and Nevis

KNA

 

Saint Lucia

LCA

 

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

VCT

 

Suriname

SUR

 

Trinidad and Tobago

TTO

 

United States of America

USA

 

Uruguay

URY

 

Venezuela

VEN

ASIA

 

Afghanistan

AFG

 

Bahrain

BHR

 

Bangladesh

BGD

 

Bhutan

BTN

 

Brunei Darussalam

BRN

 

Cambodia

KHM

 

China

CHN (1)

 

East Timor

TMP

 

India

IND

 

Indonesia

IDN

 

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

IRN

 

Iraq

IRQ

 

Israel

ISR

 

Japan

JPN

 

Jordan

JOR

 

Kazakhstan

KAZ

 

Korea, Democratic People's Republic of

PRK

 

Korea, Republic of

KOR

 

Kuwait

KWT

 

Kyrgyzstan

KGZ

 

Lao People's Democratic Republic

LAO

 

Lebanon

LBN

 

Malaysia

MYS

 

Maldives

MDV

 

Mongolia

MNG

 

Myanmar

MMR

 

Nepal

NPL

 

Oman

OMN

 

Pakistan

PAK

 

Palestine

*

 

Philippines

PHA

 

Qatar

QAT

 

Saudi Arabia

SAU

 

Singapore

SGP

 

Sri Lanka

LKA

 

Syrian Arab Republic

SYR

 

Tajikistan

TJK

 

Thailand

THA

 

Turkmenistan

TKM

 

United Arab Emirates

ARE

 

Uzbekistan

UZB

 

Vietnam

VNM

 

Yemen

YEM

OCEANIA

 

Australia

AUS

 

Fiji

FJI

 

Kiribati

KIR

 

Marshall Islands

MHL

 

Micronesia (Federated States of)

FSM

 

Nauru

NRU

 

New Zealand

NZL

 

Palau

PLW

 

Papua New Guinea

PNG

 

Samoa

WSM

 

Solomon Islands

SLB

 

Tonga

TON

 

Tuvalu

TUV

 

Vanuatu

VUT


The following codes are also used:

Stateless

XXA

Refugees (Convention of 28 July 1951)

XXB

Other refugees

XXC

International Committee of the Red Cross

CRC

UNHCR

UNR


(1)  For residents of Hong Kong, the code HKG may be used.


Top