Response to the Open Consultation- Improving procedures for obtaining short-stay ‘Schengen’ visas

In response to the open consultation by the European Commission on the improvement of procedures for obtaining short- stay ‘Schengen’ visas, the Meijers Committee would like to draw attention to Dutch jurisprudence on some issues of competence, responsibility and representation in the processing of visa applications under the Visa Code.
From these judicial decisions it appears that the Visa Code raises complicated questions between Member States on the access of the individual applicants to effective remedies against the refusal of a visa, which in our view should be answered at EU level. As yet these topics are only dealt with by national courts of Member States. These judgments do not bind national courts in other Member States. The result is legal uncertainty affecting both the applicants and the Member States.