20.6.2006 Official Journal of the European Union L 167/1 | (Acts whose publication is obligatory) DECISION No 895/2006/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 14 June 2006 introducing a simplified regime for the control of persons at the external borders based on the unilateral recognition by the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia of certain documents as equivalent to their national visas for the purposes of transit through their territories THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE binding on those Member States from the date of EUROPEAN UNION, accession. Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 62(2) thereof, (3) New Member States are therefore required to issue national visas for entry or transit through their territory to third-country nationals holding a uniform visa or long-stay visa or residence permit issued by a Member Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, State fully implementing the Schengen acquis or a similar document issued by other new Member States. Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (1), A (4 The holders of documents issued by Member States fully implementing the Schengen acquis and new Member States, do not represent any risk for the new Member States as they have been subject to all necessary controls Whereas: by other Member States. In order to avoid imposing unjustified additional administrative burdens on the new Member States, common rules should be adopted authorising the new Member States unilaterally to (1) Pursuant to Article 3(1) of the 2003 Act of Accession, recognise those documents as equivalent to their the Member States which acceded to the Union on national visas and to establish a simplified regime for 1 May 2004 are required from that date to subject to the controls of persons at the external borders based a visa obligation nationals of the third countries listed in on that unilateral equivalence. Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 of 15 March 2001 listing third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those nationals who are exempt from that ; 2 requirement (5. (5)  The common rules should apply for a transitional period, until the date to be determined in a Council decision as referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 3(2) of the 2003 Act of Accession. (2)  Pursuant to Article 3(2) of the 2003 Act of Accession, the provisions of the Schengen acquis on the conditions and criteria for issuing short-term uniform visas, as well as the provisions on mutual recognition of visas and on the equivalence between residence permits and visas, only apply in the new Member States after adoption of a Council decision to that effect. However, they are (6)  The recognition of a document should be limited to the purpose of transit through the territory of one or more new Member States and should not affect the possibility () Opinion of the Euopean Parament of 6 April 2006 not ye et stay. Parsicipation n the common sysem should e published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 1 June . ) . . . . 5006. optional and should not entail the imposition of addi- () OJ L 81, 21.3.2001, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation tional Obligations on the new Member States as defined (EC) No 851/2005 (O] L 141, 4.6.2005, p. 3). by the 2003 Act of Accession.