Brussels, 21/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - The general Schengen Area rule limiting to three months in any six month period the time foreigners not subject to a visa requirement can remain within the Schengen Area does not apply to beneficiaries of the local border traffic system, said the European Court of Justice in a ruling in case C-254/11 on Thursday 21 March 2013, explaining that, for foreigners holding a permit to cross the local border, the maximum stay in the Schengen Area can be set by agreements between the country in the Schengen Area and the non-EU country bordering on it independently of other stays in the Schengen Area beforehand if the traveller returned to his/her country of residence in the meantime.
The Court of Justice was asked for help in a case by the Supreme Court of Hungary, which wanted to know whether the EU small border traffic regulation (1931/2006) was compatible with an agreement between Hungary and the Ukraine, which is currently interpreted by Hungary in line with the Schengen Area rules allowing visa-free travel for up to three months in any six months in total in the part of Hungary bordering on the Ukraine. The Hungarian court wanted to know whether EU Regulation 1931/2006 has to be interpreted in line with Schengen or whether it could be interpreted autonomously.
In the ruling, the Court of Justice says it can be decided independently of the Schengen rules because the regulation covers uninterrupted stays, whereas the Schengen restrictions cover multiple stays. The regulation does not require the three months maximum to be part of a six months period so beneficiaries of the regulation have to be allowed to travel freely within the border area for three months if their trip is not interrupted, in which case they get a further three months. The Court of Justice says in this connection that trips must be deemed interrupted as soon as the person in question crosses the border back to the normal country of residence for which the visa-free travel was granted, but not including daily trips across the border for business purposes. (FG/transl.fl)