Agreement Between the Government of the Hellenic Republic and the Government of the Republic of Croatia Regarding the Readmission of Persons Whose Residence is Illegal

The Government of the Hellenic Republic and the Government of the Republic of Croatia,

Desiring to develop the cooperation between the two Contracting Parties in order to ensure a better application of the provisions relevant to the transit of persons within the framework of respect of the rights and guarantees provided by the laws and regulations in force,

Within the framework of respect of international conventions an agreements and taking care of the fighting against illegal immigration,

Have agreed, on the basis of reciprocity, as follows:

ARTICLE 1
READMISSION OF THE NATIONALS OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES

1. Each Contracting party shall readmit at its territory, at the request of the other Contracting Party and without any formality, persons who do not or who no longer fulfil the conditions in force for entry or residence on the territory of the requesting Contracting Party, provided that it is proved, or may be validly assumed that they possess the nationality of the requested Contracting Party. The same shall apply to persons who have been deprived of the nationality of the requested Contracting Party since entering the territory of the requesting Contracting Party without at least having been promised the naturalization by the requesting Contracting Party.

2. Upon application by the requesting Contracting Party, the requested Contracting Party shall, with out any delay, issue the travel documents required for the repatriation of the persons under the same conditions, if subsequent checks reveal that they were not in possession of the nationality of the requested Contracting Party when they departed from the territory of the requesting Contracting Party. This shall not apply if the readmission obligation is based on the fact that the requested Contracting Party deprived the person in question of its nationality after that person had entered the territory of the requesting Contracting Party, without that person at least having been promised naturalization by the requesting Contracting Party.

ARTICLE 2
READMISSION IN THE CASE OF THIRD-COUNTRY NATIONALS WHO ENTERED VIA THE EXTERNAL FRONTIER

1. The contracting Party, via whose external frontier a person can be proved, or validly assumed to have entered, who does not meet, or who no longer meets the conditions in force for entry of residence on the territory of the requesting Contracting Party and without any formality.

2. For the purposes of this Article the external frontier shall be deemed to be the first frontier to have been crossed which is not a frontier common to the Contracting Parties.

3. The readmission obligation, pursuant to paragraph 1, shall not apply in respect of a person who was in possession of a valid residence permit, issued by the requesting Contracting Party, when the person entered the territory of that Contracting Party or who was provided with a residence permit by that Contracting Party after entering its territory.

4. The Contracting Parties shall make every effort to give priority to deporting national of an adjacent State to their country of origin.

ARTICLE 3
READMISSION OF NATIONALS OF THIRD-COUNTRIES BY THE CONTRACTING PARTY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ENTRY

1. If a person who has arrived in the territory of the requesting Contracting Party does not fulfil the conditions in force for entry or residence and if that person is in possession of a valid visa issued by the other Contracting Party, that Contracting Party hall readmit the person without any formality upon application by the requesting Contracting Party.

2. If both Contracting Parties have issued a visa or a residence permit, responsibility will reside with the Contracting Party whose visa or residence permit expires last.

3. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply where a transit visa was issued.

ARTICLE 4
RESIDENCE PERMITS

A residence permit pursuant to Article 2 paragraph 3 and Article 3 means an authorization of any type issued by one Contracting Party, entitling the person to reside on the territory of that Contracting Party. This shall not include temporary permissions to reside on the territory of one of the contracting Parties in connection with the processing of an asylum application.

ARTICLE 5
TIME LIMITS

1. The requested Contracting Party shall reply to readmission requests addressed to it without any delay, and in any event within a maximum term of one month.

2. The requested Contracting Party shall accept the persons whose readmission has been agreed to without any delay, and in any event within a maximum term of one month. Upon application by the requesting Contracting Party, this time limit may be extended by the time taken to deal with legal or practical obstacles.

ARTICLE 6
TIME LIMIT OF THE READMISSION OBLIGATION

The application for readmission must be submitted within a maximum of six months by the Contracting Party noting the illegal entry and presence of the said national of a third-country on its territory.

ARTICLE 7
TRANSIT PASSAGE FOR THE PURPOSE OF READMISSION

1. The Contracting Parties shall allow third-country nationals to pass through their territory in transit for readmission, if the other Contracting Party so requested and if admission for other possible States of transit and to the State of destination is assured.

2. It shall not be essential for the requested Contracting Party to issue a transit visa.

3. Notwithstanding any authorization issued, persons whose transit has been accepted, may be returned to the other Contracting Party if circumstances within the meaning of the Article 11 subsequently arise or come to light which stand in the way of a transit operation, or if the onward journey or admission by the State of destination is no longer assured.

4. The Contracting Parties shall endeavour to restrict transit operations to aliens who cannot be returned to their States of origin directly.

ARTICLE 8
DATA PROTECTION

Insofar as personal data have to be communicated for the implementation of the present agreement, such information may concern only the following:

(1)The particulars of the person to be transferred and, where necessary, of the members of that person's family (surname, given name, any previous names, nicknames or pseudonyms, aliases, date and place of birth, sex, current and any previous nationality);

(2)Passport, identity card and other identity and travel documents and laissez-passer (number, period of validity, date of issue, issuing authority, place of issue etc.);

(3)Other details required for the identification of the persons to be transferred;

(4)Stopping places and itineraries;

(5)Residence permits or visas issued by one of the Contraction Parties.

ARTICLE 9
COSTS

1. The costs of transporting persons taken in charge pursuant to the border of the state of destination, and, where necessary, the costs arising from return transport, shall be borne by the requesting Contracting Party in accordance with Article 7.

ARTICLE 10
EXECUTIVE PROVISIONS

The competent authorities of the two Contracting Parties will be in cooperation and mutual consultation with each other as far as this is needed for the examination and the implementation of the present Agreement.

The request for these consultations will be conveyed through diplomatic channel. Within this context, the Contracting Parties will approve the necessary provisions for the execution of the present Agreement, especially concerning:

(a)The way of mutual communication;

(b)The date, documents and presumptions required for the readmission;

(c)The determination of the border station of transit from which the readmission will take place;

(d)The appointment of the authorities responsible for the execution of the present Agreement;

(e)The protection of data;

(f)The conditions of transfer of third-countries nationals by the police.

ARTICLE 11
CLAUSE STIPULATING THAT INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS/CONVENTIONS SHALL NOT BE AFFECTED

This Agreement shall not affect obligations of the Contracting Parties arising from:

1. The Convention of 28 July 1951 on the Status of Refugees as amended by the Protocol 31 January 1967.

2. The European Convention of 4 November 1950 for the Protection of Human and Fundamental Freedoms.

ARTICLE 12
ENTRY INTO FORCE

This Agreemment will enter provisionally into force at the time of its signing and definitely one month after the notification that the accomplishment of the internal procedures for its approval, have been finalised.

ARTICLE 13
SUSPENSION-TERMINATION

1. The present Agreement is concluded for an indefinite period.

2. After informing the other Contracting Party, each Contracting Party may suspend this Agreement by giving notification on important ground, in particular on the grounds of the protection of state security, public order or public health. The Con-tracting Parties shall notify each other of the cancellation of any such measure without any delay, via the ordinary channels of diplomacy.

3. After informing the other Contracting Party, each Contracting Party may terminate this Agreement by giving a reveiant notification.

4. The termination of the present Agreement shall become effective on the first day of the month following the month in which notification was received by the other Contracting Party.

Done in Athens, this 10th day of March 1995 in two originals, one in the Greek language, one in the Croatian language and one in the English language, each text being equally authentic.

In case of divergence concerning the interpretation of the national texts, the English version of the text will prevail.