The history of the treaty dates back to the first debates on the free circulation of people in Europe during the 1980s.
In 1985, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands decided to create a border-free territory for themselves, called the Schengen area, from the name of the city in Luxembourg where the first agreements were signed.
This inter-government cooperation was then extended to thirteen States during the signing of the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997. Thanks to this treaty, the decisions taken in 1985 and in the years following and the operational structures created from then onwards were integrated into the European Union on May 1st 1999.
European Community laws have been adopted on the matters of visas, rights to exile, and external border checks to allow the free circulations of people inside the countries that signed the Treaty, without disturbing public order.
Free circulation laws have also been mixed with laws on security, the so-called "compensative measures" that are aimed at improving coordination between police, customs and judicial administrations as well as fighting terrorism and organised crime. The complex SIS (Schengen Information System) has been set up for this purpose, that allows data about people's identity and missing objects to be exchanged."
Spazio Schengen: comprises the national territories of the countries that already apply the Convention: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Iceland and Norway. LIST COUNTRIES MEMBERS
The external border: is the perimeter of the Schengen area which aliens may enter using the border crossing points: and means the Schengen Area Parties' land and sea borders and their airports and sea ports, provided that they are not internal borders.
Internal borders: are the common land borders of the Schengen Area Parties, their airports for internal flights and their sea ports for regular - passenger - connections exclusively from or to other ports within the territories of the Schengen Area Parties.
Non-aliens: are nationals of all the countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom.
DOWNLOAD AREA
