Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Free movement of persons - Right of entry and of residence of nationals of the Member States - Administrative formalities - Whether permissible - Conditions - Not met - Penalties - Limits

( EEC Treaty, Art . 48 et seq .)

Summary

The obligation, imposed by the competent authorities of the Member States on nationals of other Member States exercising their right to freedom of movement, to report their presence to the authorities of the State concerned may not in itself be regarded as an infringement of the rules concerning freedom of movement for persons . However, such an infringement might result from legal formalities if those formalities were designed in such a way that they restricted the freedom of movement required by the Treaty or limited the right conferred on nationals of the Member States to enter and reside in the territory of any other Member State for the purposes intended by Community law . Such is the case, in particular, when the time allowed for making the declaration of arrival by foreigners is not reasonable or when the penalties for failure to discharge that obligation are disproportionate to the gravity of the infringement, for example because they include imprisonment .

It is therefore incompatible with the provisions of Community law on the free movement of persons for a Member State to impose on nationals of other Member States exercising their right to freedom of movement the obligation, subject to a penal sanction for failure to comply, to make a declaration of residence within three days of entering that State' s territory .