22/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - A European Commission spokesman described Belgium's deportation of two Poles at the weekend (whose passports had not been stamped to indicate when they had arrived in the EU) as “over-strict interpretation” of the Schengen rules. The two Poles crossed into the EU at the German border but the German customs officials did not stamp their passports. Date stamps in passports can be used to prove that a person has not stayed in the EU longer than the permitted 3 months, but they are not compulsory and lack of a date stamp in a passport is therefore not a reason for deporting the individual in question. The date a person arrived can be proved in other ways, noted the spokesperson. The Council is currently examining a French proposal to make it compulsory to stamp the passports of people from outside the EU.