Agreement Between The Government Of The Republic Of Latvia And The Government Of The Hellenic Republic Regarding The Readmission Of Persons Whose Entry Or Residence Is Illegal

The Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of the Hellenic Republic, hereinafter referred to as Contracting Parties, desirous of facilitating the co-operation between the two Contracting Parties in order to ensure a better application of the provisions relevant to the transfer of persons who do not or who no longer fulfil the conditions in force for entry or residence, within the framework of respect of the rights and guarantees provided for by the laws and regulations in force as well as within the framework of respect of the international conventions and agreements and endeavouring to prevent 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 formalities, 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.

2. Upon application by the requesting Contracting Party, the requested Contracting Party shall, without any delay, issue the travel documents required for the repatriation of the persons to be readmitted.

3. The requesting Contracting Party shall readmit such 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.

Article 2

READMISSION OF AN ALIEN ON THE BASIS OF AN ADVANCE NOTIFICATION

1. An alien is a person who is neither Greek, nor Latvian citizen;

2. The Contracting Party shall readmit without any formalities an alien who has entered the territory of the other Contracting Party directly from its territory, on the basis of an advance notification by the competent authority of the other Contracting Party, if no more than seventy-two hours have passed since the entry.

3. It is considered that the alien has entered the territory directly from the territory of the other Contracting Party if this can be proved or it may be validly assumed to be sufficiently probable.

Article 3

READMISSION OF AN ALIEN ON THE BASIS OF A REQUEST

1. The Contracting Party shall, at the request of the other Contracting Party, readmit an alien who has arrived in the territory of the other Contracting Party directly from the territory of the Contracting Party and the entry or residence of whom does not fulfill the provisions in the legislation of the other Contracting Party. However, this shall not apply if the alien has been granted a residence permit by the other Contracting Party after his entry into the country in question.

2. The Contracting Party shall, at the request of the other Contracting Party, readmit without any formalities an alien who stays illegally in the territory of the other Contracting Party and who is in possession of a valid residence permit or a valid visa issued by the Contracting Party.

3. The Contracting Party shall make every effort to give priority to deporting nationals of an adjacent State to their country of origin.

4. The Contracting Party shall, at the request of the other Contracting Party, readmit also a stateless alien who has entered the territory of the other Contracting Party by means of a travel document issued by the Contracting Party, entitling - even after its expiration - the return to the territory of the Contracting Party which issued that document, or who has immediately before his entry into the territory of the other Contracting Party resided in the territory of the Contracting Party and arrived directly from the territory of the Contracting Party after the entry into force of this Agreement.

Article 4

RESIDENCE PERMITS

As residence permits pursuant to Articles 2 and 3 of this Agreement are considered any entry visas or any authorizations issued by the Contracting Parties, entitling the persons to enter or 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 fifteen (15) days, from the date of their receipt.

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 (1) 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 the readmission of persons mentioned in Articles 2 and 3 of this Agreement, must be submitted within a maximum term of six (6) months from the date the requesting Contracting Party noted the illegal entry and presence of the said alien on its territory.

Article 7

TRANSIT PASSAGE FOR THE PURPOSE OF READMISSION

1. The Contracting Parties shall allow aliens to pass through their territory in transit for readmission, if the other Contracting Party so requested and if admission to 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 in case of transit by air.

3. Regardless of any previous authorization, persons to which a transit passage was allowed may be returned to the other Contracting Party on any one of the conditions of Article 11. Similarly, these persons may be returned to the other Contracting Party in case no proof can be provided about either their transit passage through a third country or their readmission by their country of origin, as well as when the expelled person is himself responsible for not having reached the next transit or host country.

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

Article 8

DATA PROTECTION

In so far 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, date and place of birth, sex, current and any previous nationality);

(2) passport, identity card and other identity and travel documents and laisez-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 Contracting Parties.

Article 9

COSTS

1. The costs of transporting persons taken in charge pursuant to Articles 1, 2 and 3 of this Agreement shall be borne by the requesting Contracting Party up to the border of the requested Contracting Party.

2. The costs of transit up to the border of the state of destination, and, where necessary, the expenses of an eventual return shall be borne by the requesting Contracting Party in accordance with Article 7 of this Agreement.

Article 10

EXECUTIVE PROVISIONS

1. The Contracting Parties will resolve by mutual consent and in a spirit of co-operation all problems associated with the application of this Agreement.

2. The Contracting Parties will set up in a separate Protocol, being an integral part of this Agreement, the conditions, procedures and documents for its application.

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 on the Status of Refugees signed in Geneva, July 28, 1951, as amended by the Protocol signed in New York on January 31, 1967.

2. The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms signed in Rome on November 4, 1950.

Article 12

ENTRY INTO FORCE

This Agreement will be temporarily applied from the first day of the second month of its signing and will enter into force after the exchange of notes by which the Contracting Parties notify each other of the fulfilment of all internal legal requirements necessary for its entry into force.

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 a written notification with the exception of the provisions regulating the readmission of the citizens of the Contracting Parties, on important grounds, in particular on the grounds of the protection of state security, public order or public health. The Contracting Parties shall notify each other of the cancellation of the suspension, without any delay trough diplomatic channels.

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

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

Done in Athens on 17 March, 1999 in two originals in Latvian, Greek and English languages, each text being equally authentic.

In case of divergence of interpretation, the English text shall prevail.

On Behalf Of The Government Of The Republic Of Latvia Valdis Birkavs Minister Of Foreign Affairs

On Behalf Of The Government Of The Hellenic Republic Yannos Kranidiotis Alternative Minister For Foreign Affairs