Agreement Between the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and the Government of the Republic of Slovenia on Readmission of Those Persons Whose Entry into or Residence in a Country are Contrary to the National Law

The Government of the Republic of Lithuania and the Government of the Republic of Slovenia considering their common aim to facilitate the difficulties, which might appear because of the mutual abolishment of visas for short sojourn of their citizens during their travels;

with a desire to facilitate, in the spirit of good co-operation and on the mutual basis, the readmission of persons, whose entry into or residence in a country are contrary to the national law;

have agreed as follows:

I.READMISSION OF THE CITIZENS OF THE CONTRACTING STATES

Article 1

1)Each Contracting State shall, upon request of the other Contracting State and without any formalities, readmit to its territory any person, which does not, or does not any more, comply with the conditions for entry or stay, applicable in the territory of the requesting Contracting State, if it is ascertained or presumed, that such person has the citizenship of the requested Contracting State.

2)The citizenship may be ascertained or presumed on the basis of a citizenship certificate, a passport or an identity card, even if such document were issued incorrectly or if they expired not more than three years ago. The citizenship may be presumed also on the basis of other data.

3)The requesting Contracting State shall, under the same conditions, readmit a person, even if it has been ascertained through further verifications that at the moment of leaving the territory of the requesting Contracting State, the person did not have the citizenship of the requested Contracting State.

II.READMISSION OF CITIZENS OF THIRD STATES AND STATELESS PERSONS

Article 2

1)Either Contracting State shall readmit to its territory, upon a request of the other Contracting State and without any formalities, a citizen of a third state or a stateless person who does not, or does not any more comply with the conditions for entry or residence applicable in the territory of the requesting Contracting State, if it was ascertained that such person had entered the territory of the Contracting State after having sojourned in or travelled through the territory of the requested Contracting State.

2)Either Contracting State shall, upon a request of the other Contracting State and without any formalities, readmit a citizen of a third state or a stateless person who does not, or does not any more, comply with the conditions for residence or entry applicable in the territory of the requesting Contracting State, if such person has a valid visa or any other valid residential permit, issued by the requested Contracting State.

Article 3

1)The obligation of readmission as provided in Article 2, shall not exist in case of:

a)citizens of third states, that have a common state border with the requesting Contracting State,

b)citizens of third states or stateless person, who obtained, after they left the territory of the requested Contracting State or after they entered the territory of the requesting Contracting State, a visa or residential permit from the latter;

c)citizens of third states or stateless person, who have resided in the territory of the requesting Contracting State for the last six months;

d)citizens of third states or stateless person, who were recognised by the requested Contracting State either the status of refugee on the basis of the provisions of the Geneva Convention of July 28, 1951 on the Status of the Refugees, complemented by the New York Protocol of January 31, 1967, or the Status of stateless Persons on the basis of the New York Convention the Status of Stateless Persons of September 28, 1954;

e)citizens of third states or stateless persons, actually returned by the requested Contracting State to their state of origin or to any other third state.

Article 4

The requesting Contracting State agrees to readmit to its own territory those citizens of third states or stateless persons for whom it would be ascertained, after adequate verifications made by the requested Contracting State, that they do not comply with the clauses under Articles 2 and 3 of the Present Agreement at the time of their departure from the territory of the requesting Contracting State.

III.READMISSION PROCEDURE

Article 5

(1)The requested Contracting State is obliged to answer the request for readmission in writing within eight days. Any refusal of the readmission shall be founded.

(2)The requested Contracting State shall, within one month at the latest, readmit a person whose readmission was confirmed. This period may be extended upon request by the requesting Contracting State.

Article 6

The requested Contracting State shall issue a confirmation of readmission to the requesting Contracting State, including the identity data of the person whose readmission was requested, and any possible documents of such person.

Article 7

The requesting Contracting State shall cover the expenses of transportation of persons to be readmitted to the border of the requested Contracting State. The requesting Contracting State shall bear also all the expenses in case of readmission of persons, if necessary.

IV. TRANSIT IN CASE OF REJECTION

Article 8

(1)Either Contracting State will allow, upon request from the other Contracting State, entry into, and transit through, its territory to citizens of third states or stateless persons who were rejected by the request Contracting State at the border. The transit may be made by road, railway r air transport.

(2)The requesting Contracting State shall take full responsibility for the continuation of the travel of such person to the country of destination and will readmit such person, if the measure of rejection cannot be carried out for any reason.

(3)The requesting Contracting State will confirm to the requested Contracting State, that the person for whom the transit was approved, has a document for the transportation to the State of destination.

Article 9

(1)The Contracting State that implemented the measure of expulsion, shall inform the requested Contracting State in case the rejected person needs an escort. The requested Contracting State may, in connection with the transit:

-decide to appoint it's own escort;

-decide to appoint escort in coordination with the Contracting State that implemented the measure of expulsion.

(2)If the transit is performed by an airline company of the Contracting State that applied the measure of expulsion, and with a police escort, this can be done by the Contracting State alone, under the condition that they do not leave the international zone at the airport of the requested Contracting State.

(3)If the transit is performed by an airline company of the requested Contracting State and with a police escort, this will be provided for by the requested State under the condition, that the Contracting State that applied the measure of expulsion covers all the expenses that may occur.

(4)If a transit must be, exceptionally, done by road or railway, the Contracting State shall agree about the necessity and modality of the escort.

Article 10

The request for the transit shall be exchanged directly between the adequate authorities of the Contracting State. The request should contain all data pertaining to the identity and citizenship of the person, the date of travel, the time and place of the arrival to the transit state as well as the time and place of the departure from it to the state of destination and including all data of the officials, if they accompany such a person.

Article 11

The transit may be rejected:

-if the person is prosecuted in his/her destination state because of his/her race, religion, ethnicity or membership of a certain social group or because of his/her political opinion;

-if the person is threatened to be prosecuted or sentenced in the state of destination for criminal offences, committed before the transit.

Article 12

The requesting Contracting State shall cover all the expenses of the transit to the border of the state of destination, as well as any expenses which may occur in case of return.

V.GENERAL CLAUSES

Article 13

The Contracting State shall define, with an exchange of notes between the ministers responsible for the border control:

-the airport, that may be used for the readmission or for entry of persons in transit;

-the state and local authorities responsible for dealing with applications for readmission or transit.

Article 14

(1)The provisions of the present Agreement shall not interfere with any obligations of readmission or return of foreign citizens which derive from other international agreements signed by the Contracting State.

(2)The provisions of the present Agreement shall not prevent the application of the provisions of the Geneva Convention of July 28, 1951 concerning the refugee status and the provisions of the New York Protocol of January 31, 1967.

(3)The provisions of the present Agreement shall not prevent the application of the provisions of the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of November 4, 1950.

Article 15

(1)Either Contracting State shall notify the other of the completion of all necessary constitutional procedures for the ratification of the present Agreement which shall become effective thirty days after the receipt of the last notice.

(2)This Agreement shall be temporarily in use from the day of its signature.

(3)This Agreement is concluded for an indefinite period. It may be terminated with a three months notice through diplomatic channels.

In confirmation of the above the representatives of both Contracting State, duly authorised for this purpose, signed the present Agreement.

Done at …….. on the …….. day of ……. 1996 in two copies in Lithuanian, Slovene and English languages, all three texts being equally authentic. In case of any dispute or difference in the interpretation of the present Agreement, the English text shall prevail.