Agreement

between the European Community and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas on the short-stay visa waiver

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY, hereinafter referred to as "the Community", and

THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS, hereinafter referred to as "the Bahamas",

hereinafter referred to jointly as "the Contracting Parties";

WITH A VIEW to further developing friendly relations between the Contracting Parties and desiring to facilitate travel by ensuring visa-free entry and short stay for their citizens,

HAVING REGARD TO Council Regulation (EC) No 1932/2006 of 21 December 2006, amending Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement [1] by, inter alia, transferring six third countries, including the Bahamas to the list of third countries whose nationals are exempt from the visa requirement for short stays in the Member States of the European Union (EU),

BEARING IN MIND that Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1932/2006 states that for these six countries, the exemption from the visa requirement is to be applied only from the date of entry into force of an agreement on visa exemptions which is to be concluded by the European Community with the country in question,

RECOGNISING that the citizens of several Member States are exempted from the visa requirement when travelling to the Bahamas for a period not exceeding three or eight months, while those of other Member States are under the visa requirement,

DESIRING to safeguard the principle of equal treatment of all EU citizens,

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT that persons travelling for the purpose of carrying out a paid activity during their short stay are not covered by this Agreement and therefore for this category the relevant rules of Community law and national law of the Member States and the national law of the Bahamas on the visa obligation or exemption and on the access to employment continue to apply,

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the Protocol on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland and the Protocol integrating the Schengen acquis into the framework of the European Union, annexed to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community and confirming that the provisions of this agreement do not apply to the United Kingdom and Ireland,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Purpose

This Agreement provides for visa-free travel for the citizens of the European Union and for the citizens of the Bahamas when travelling to the territory of the other Contracting Party for a maximum period of three months during a six months period.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purpose of this Agreement:

(a) "Member State" shall mean any Member State of the European Union, with the exception of the United Kingdom and Ireland;

(b) "a citizen of the European Union" shall mean a national of a Member State as defined in point (a);

(c) "a citizen of the Bahamas" shall mean any person who holds the citizenship of the Bahamas;

(d) "Schengen area" shall mean the area without internal borders comprising the territories of the Member States as defined in point (a) applying the Schengen acquis in full.

Article 3

Scope of application

1. The citizens of the European Union holding a valid ordinary, diplomatic or service/official passport issued by a Member State may enter and stay without a visa in the territory of the Bahamas for the period of stay as defined in Article 4(1).

The citizens of the Bahamas holding a valid ordinary, diplomatic or service/official passport issued by the Bahamas may enter and stay without a visa in the territory of the Member States for the period of stay as defined in Article 4(2).

2. Paragraph 1 does not apply to persons travelling for the purpose of carrying out a paid activity.

For this category of persons, each Member State individually may decide to impose the visa requirement on the citizens of the Bahamas or to withdraw it according to Article 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 539/2001.

For this category of persons, the Bahamas may decide on the visa requirement or the visa waiver for the citizens of each Member State individually in accordance with its national law.

3. The visa waiver provided by this Agreement shall apply without prejudice to the laws of the Contracting Parties relating to the conditions of entry and short stay. The Member States and the Bahamas reserve the right to refuse entry into and short stay in their territories if one or more of these conditions are not met.

4. The visa waiver applies regardless of the mode of transport used to cross the borders of the Contracting Parties.

5. Issues not covered by this Agreement shall be governed by Community law, national law of the Member States or by national law of the Bahamas.

Article 4

Duration of stay

1. The citizens of the European Union may stay in the territory of the Bahamas for a maximum period of three months during a six months period following the date of first entry into the territory of the country.

2. The citizens of the Bahamas may stay in the Schengen area for a maximum period of three months during a six months period following the date of first entry into the territory of any Member State fully applying the Schengen acquis. This period of three months during a period of six months shall be calculated independently of any stay in a Member State which does not yet apply the Schengen acquis in full.

The citizens of the Bahamas may stay for a maximum period of three months during a six months period following the date of first entry in the territory of each of the Member States that do not yet apply the Schengen acquis in full, independently of the period of stay calculated for the Schengen area.

3. This Agreement does not affect the possibility for the Bahamas and the Member States to extend the period of stay beyond three months in accordance with national law and Community law.

Article 5

Territorial application

1. As regards the French Republic, the provisions of this Agreement shall apply only to the European territory of the French Republic.

2. As regards the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the provisions of this Agreement shall apply only to the European territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Article 6

Joint Committee for the management of the Agreement

1. The Contracting Parties shall set up a Joint Committee of experts (hereinafter referred to as the Committee), composed of representatives of the European Community and representatives of the Bahamas. The Community shall be represented by the European Commission.

2. The Committee shall, inter alia, have the following tasks:

(a) monitoring the implementation of this Agreement;

(b) suggesting amendments or additions to this Agreement;

(c) settling disputes arising from the interpretation or application of the provisions of this Agreement.

3. The Committee shall be convened whenever necessary at the request of one of the Contracting Parties.

4. The Committee shall establish its rules of procedure.

Article 7

Relation between this Agreement and existing bilateral visa waiver agreements between the Member States and the Bahamas

This Agreement shall take precedence over the provisions of any bilateral agreements or arrangements concluded between individual Member States and the Bahamas, in so far as their provisions cover issues falling within the scope of this Agreement.

Article 8

Final provisions

1. This Agreement shall be ratified or approved by the Contracting Parties in accordance with their respective internal procedures and shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following the date on which the Contracting Parties notify each other that the procedures referred to above have been completed.

2. This Agreement is concluded for an indefinite period of time, unless terminated in accordance with paragraph 5.

3. This Agreement may be amended by written agreement of the Contracting Parties. Amendments shall enter into force after the Contracting Parties have notified each other of the completion of their internal procedures necessary for this purpose.

4. Each Contracting Party may suspend in whole or in part this Agreement, in particular, for reasons of public policy, protection of national security or protection of public health, illegal immigration or the reintroduction of the visa requirement by either Contracting Party. The decision on suspension shall be notified to the other Contracting Party not later than two months before its entry into force. The Contracting Party that has suspended the application of this Agreement shall immediately inform the other Contracting Party once the reasons for suspension no longer exist.

5. Each Contracting Party may terminate this Agreement by giving written notice to the other Party. This Agreement shall cease to be in force 90 days after the date of such notification.

6. The Bahamas may suspend or terminate this Agreement only in respect of all the Member States.

7. The Community may suspend or terminate this Agreement only in respect of all of its Member States.

Done at Brussels, in duplicate, on 28 May 2009 in the Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish languages, each of these texts being equally authentic.

За Европейската общност

Por la Comunidad Europea

Za Evropské společenství

For Det Europæiske Fællesskab

Für die Europäische Gemeinschaft

Euroopa Ühenduse nimel

Για την Ευρωπαϊκή Κοινότητα

For the European Community

Pour la Communauté européenne

Per la Comunità europea

Eiropas Kopienas vārdā

Europos bendrijos vardu

Az Európai Közösség részéről

Għall-Komunità Ewropea

Voor de Europese Gemeenschap

W imieniu Wspólnoty Europejskiej

Pela Comunidade Europeia

Pentru Comunitatea Europeană

Za Európske spoločenstvo

Za Evropsko skupnost

Euroopan yhteisön puolesta

För Europeiska gemenskapen

+++++ TIFF +++++

За Бахамската общност

Por la Commonwealth de Las Bahamas

Za Bahamské společenství

For Commonwealth of The Bahamas

Für das Commonwealth der Bahamas

Bahama Ühenduse nimel

Για την Κοινοπολιτεία των Νήσων Μπαχάμες

For the Commonwealth of The Bahamas

Pour le Commonwealth des Bahamas

Per il Commonwealth delle Bahamas

Bahamu Salu Sadraudzības vārdā

Bahamų Sandraugos vardu

A Bahamai Közösség részéről

Għall-Commonwealth tal-Bahamas

Voor het Gemenebest van de Bahama's

W imieniu Wspólnoty Bahamów

Pela Comunidade das Baamas

Pentru Uniunea Bahamas

Za Bahamské spoločenstvo

Za Zvezo Bahami

Bahaman liittovaltion puolesta

För Samväldet Bahamas

+++++ TIFF +++++

[1] OJ L 405, 30.12.2006, p. 23.

--------------------------------------------------