eu-com-schengen-coop

Unlawful practice of accommodation facilities holding passports of their foreign guests, even after
completion of the guest registration process.
Tourists were asked to leave their passports/travel documents even in cases when they timely paid
the invoice. In many cases it resulted in confrontation with reception personnel and even with lost
or swapped passports. The Police and the Ministry were informed and they promised to distribute
again this information to all tourists’ accommodation providers and prevent this practice in the
future. In some cases, hotels lost identity cards of some of the foreign tourists this summer. This
issue was also raised with the local authorities. Consuls will monitor further progress, and if
necessary, take another action in the future.
3. State of play
MS application of the visa code is satisfactory
3.1 Application of the Visa Code
The Visa code has been thoroughly discussed during the Local Schengen meetings.
The EUD compiled the information on MS visa statistics for 2013 and first four months of
2014 and circulated to all MS and DG HOME.
Reports from the Visa Committee have been circulated by the EU Delegation
3.2 Assessment of the need to harmonise the lists of supporting documents
The general view of MS is that Annex II to the Schengen regulation (lists of supporting
documents) and the instructions received from the capitals offer substantial and adequate
information, more than enough for Montenegro, so MS see no need for further harmonization.
3.3 Exchange of information
The exchange of information within the LSC includes annual statistics, cases of fraud,
communication problems with local authorities, travel documents issued by the host state.
Lessons learned in 2013:
Total number of issued visas (by the CAC, Greek embassy, Italian embassy, observers) increased in
2013. For 2012, this total was 933 and 3 visas were refused, while for 2013, the total number of
issued visas was 1452 and 10 visas were refused.
There has been no change in law for the registration period of foreigners. The registration period
of 24 hours is still in place and hasn't been extended.
The online registration form for foreigners (with English translation) which was available on the
MFA of Montenegro website in the past has been removed for some time.
12893/14 PR/lm 123
DG D 1 A
EN