The member States of the Council of Europe, signatory hereto,
Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between
its members;
Wishing to further improve the situation of refugees in member States of the Council of
Europe;
Desirous of facilitating the application of Article 28 of the Convention relating to the
status of refugees of 28 July 1951 and
paragraphs 6 and 11 of its Schedule, in particular
as regards the situation where a refugee has lawfully taken up residence in
the territory
of another Contracting Party;
Concerned especially to specify, in a liberal and humanitarian spirit, the conditions on
which the responsibility for issuing a
travel document is transferred from one Contracting
Party to another;
Considering that it is desirable to regulate this question in a uniform manner between the
member States of the Council of Europe,
Have agreed as follows:
Article 1
For the purposes of this Agreement:
- "refugee" means a person to whom the Convention relating to the status of
refugees of 28 July 1951 or, as the case
may be, the Protocol relating to the status of
refugees of 31 January 1967 applies;
- "travel document" means the travel document issued by virtue of the
above-mentioned Convention;
- "first State" means a State, Party to this Agreement, which has issued such a
travel document;
- "second State" means another State, Party to this Agreement, in which a
refugee, holder of a travel document issued
by the first State, is present.
Article 2
- Responsibility shall be considered to be transferred on the expiry of a period of two
years of actual and continuous stay in the
second State with the agreement of its
authorities or earlier if the second State has permitted the refugee to remain in its
territory either on a permanent basis or for a period exceeding the validity of the travel
document.
This period of two years shall run from the date of admission of the refugee to the
territory of the second State or, if
such a date cannot be established, from the date on
which he presents himself to the authorities of the second State.
- For the calculation of the period specified in paragraph 1 of this Article:
- stays authorised solely for the purpose of studies, training or medical care shall not
be taken into account;
- periods of imprisonment of the refugee imposed in connection with a criminal conviction
shall not be taken into account;
- periods during which the refugee is allowed to remain in the territory of the second
State pending an appeal against a decision
of refusal of residence or of removal from the
territory shall only be taken into account if the decision on the appeal is
favourable to
the refugee;
- periods during which the refugee leaves on a temporary basis the territory of the second
State for not more than three consecutive
months or, on more than one occasion, for not
more than six months in total, shall be taken into account, such absences not
being deemed
to interrupt or suspend the stay.
- Responsibility shall also be deemed to be transferred if readmission of the refugee to
the first State can no longer be requested
under Article 4.
Article 3
- Until the date of transfer of responsibility, the travel document shall be extended or
renewed by the first State.
- The refugee shall not be required to leave the second State to obtain the extension or
renewal of his travel document and may
for this purpose apply to diplomatic missions or
consular posts of the first State.
Article 4
- As long as transfer of responsibility has not occurred in accordance with Article 2,
paragraphs 1 and 2, the refugee shall be
readmitted to the territory of the first State at
any time, even after the expiry of the travel document. In the latter case
readmission
shall occur on the simple request of the second State, on condition that the request is
made during the six months
following the expiry of the travel document.
- If the authorities of the second State do not know the whereabouts of the refugee and
for this reason are not able to make the
request mentioned in paragraph 1 during the six
months following the expiry of the travel document, that request must be made
within the
six months following the time at which the whereabouts of the refugee become known to the
second State, but in
no case later than two years after the expiry of the travel document.
Article 5
- From the date of transfer of responsibility:
- the responsibility of the first State to extend or renew the travel document of the
refugee shall cease;
- the second State shall be responsible for issuing a new travel document to the refugee.
- The second State shall inform the first State that transfer of responsibility has taken
place.
Article 6
After the date of transfer of responsibility, the second State shall, in the interest
of family reunification and for humanitarian
reasons, facilitate the admission to its
territory of the refugee's spouse and minor or dependent children.
Article 7
The competent authorities of the Parties may communicate directly with each other as
regards the application of this Agreement.
These authorities shall be specified by each
State, when expressing its consent to be bound by the Agreement, by means of a
notification
addressed to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
Article 8
- Nothing in this Agreement shall impair any rights and benefits which have been or which
may be granted to refugees independently
of this Agreement.
- None of the provisions of this Agreement shall be interpreted as preventing a Party from
extending the benefits of this Agreement
to persons who do not fulfil the conditions laid
down.
- The provisions of bilateral agreements concluded between Parties relating to the
transfer of responsibility for the issuing of
Convention travel documents or to the
readmission of refugees in the absence of such a transfer shall cease to be applicable
from the date of entry into force of this Agreement between those Parties. Rights and
benefits acquired or in the course
of being acquired by refugees under such agreements
shall not be affected.
Article 9
- This Agreement shall be open for signature by the member States of the Council of
Europe, which may express their consent to be
bound by:
- signature without reservation as to ratification, acceptance or approval, or
- signature subject to ratification, acceptance or approval, followed by ratification,
acceptance or approval.
- Instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the
Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
Article 10
- This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the
expiration of a period of one month after the
date on which two member States of the
Council of Europe have expressed their consent to be bound by the Agreement, in accordance
with the provisions of Article 9.
- In respect of any member State which subsequently expresses its consent to be bound by
it, the Agreement shall enter into force
on the first day of the month following the
expiration of a period of one month after the date of signature or of the deposit
of the
instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval.
Article 11
- After the entry into force of this Agreement, the Committee of Ministers of the Council
of Europe may invite any State not a member
of the Council which is a Party to the
Convention relating to the status of refugees of 28 July 1951 or, as the case may be,
the
Protocol relating to the status of refugees of 31 January 1967, to accede to the
Agreement. The decision to invite shall
be taken by the majority provided for by Article
20.d of the Statute and by the unanimous vote of the representatives of the
Contracting
States entitled to sit on the Committee.
- In respect of any acceding State, the Agreement shall enter into force on the first day
of the month following the expiration
of a period of one month after the date of deposit
of the instrument of accession with the Secretary General of the Council of
Europe.
Article 12
- Any State may at the time of signature or when depositing its instrument of
ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, specify
the territory or territories to
which this Agreement shall apply.
- Any State may at any later date, by a declaration addressed to the Secretary General of
the Council of Europe, extend the application
of this Agreement to any other territory
specified in the declaration. In respect of such territory the Agreement shall enter
into
force on the first day of the month following the expiration of a period of one month
after the date of receipt by the
Secretary General of such declaration.
- Any declaration made under the two preceding paragraphs may, in respect of any territory
specified in such declaration, be withdrawn
by a notification addressed to the Secretary
General. The withdrawal shall become effective on the first day of the month following
the
expiration of a period of six months after the date of receipt of such notification by the
Secretary General.
Article 13
Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 12, this Agreement shall apply to each
Party subject to the same limitations and
reservations applicable to its obligations under
the Convention relating to the status of refugees of 28 July 1951 or, as the case
may be,
the Protocol relating to the status of refugees of 31 January 1967.
Article 14
- Any State may, at the time of signature or when depositing its instrument of
ratification, acceptance, approval or accession,
declare that it avails itself of one or
both of the reservations provided for in the Annex to this Agreement. No other reservation
may be made.
- Any Contracting State which has made a reservation under the preceding paragraph may
wholly or partly withdraw it by means of
a notification addressed to the Secretary General
of the Council of Europe. The withdrawal shall take effect on the date of receipt
of such
notification by the Secretary General.
- A Party which has made a reservation in respect of any provision of this Agreement may
not claim the application of that provision
by any other Party; it may, however, if its
reservation is partial or conditional, claim the application of that provision insofar
as
it has itself accepted it.
Article 15
- Difficulties with regard to the interpretation and application of this Agreement shall
be settled by direct consultation between
the competent administrative authorities and, if
the need arises, through diplomatic channels.
- Any dispute between Parties concerning the interpretation or application of this
Agreement which it has not been possible to settle
by negotiation or other means shall, at
the request of any party to the dispute, be referred to arbitration. Each party shall
nominate an arbitrator and the two arbitrators shall nominate a referee. If any party has
not nominated its arbitrator within
the three months following the request for
arbitration, he shall be nominated at the request of the other party by the President
of
the European Court of Human Rights. If the latter should be a national of one of the
parties to the dispute, this duty
shall be carried out by the Vice-President of the Court,
or, if the Vice-President is a national of one of the parties to the
dispute, by the most
senior judge of the Court not being a national of one of the parties to the dispute. The
same procedure
shall be observed if the arbitrators cannot agree on the choice of referee.
The arbitration tribunal shall lay down its own procedure. Its decisions shall be taken by
majority vote. Its award shall
be final.
Article 16
- Any Party may at any time denounce this Agreement by means of a notification addressed
to the Secretary General of the Council
of Europe.
- Such denunciation shall become effective on the first day of the month following the
expiration of a period of six months after
the date of receipt of the notification by the
Secretary General.
- Rights and benefits acquired or in the course of being acquired by refugees under this
Agreement shall not be affected in the
event of the Agreement being denounced.
Article 17
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe shall notify the member States of the
Council and any State which has acceded to
this Agreement of:
- any signature;
- the deposit of any instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession;
- any date of entry into force of this Agreement in accordance with Articles 10, 11 and
12;
- any other act, notification or communication relating to this Agreement.
In witness whereof the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed this
Agreement.
Done at Strasbourg, the 16th day of October 1980, in English and French, both texts being
equally authentic, in a single copy which
shall be deposited in the archives of the
Council of Europe. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe shall transmit certified
copies to each member State of the Council of Europe and to any State invited to accede to
this Agreement.
