14.11.2011, 10:19

2nd TWG on Exchange of Information regarding Forged and Fake Travel Documents within PCC SEE


The second Thematic Working Group on Exchange of Information regrding Forged and Fake Travel Documents within PCC SEE was held in Ljubljana in Slovenia, from 9-11 November 2011. Representatives from Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia and Experts from France, Slovenia and ICMPD, attended the meeting.
The meeting started with a welcome by Mr Stanislav Veniger, Senior Advisor at PCC SEE Secretariat, and with the review of realization of the conclusions adopted at the 1st meeting of the Thematic Working Group on Exchange of Information regarding Forged and Fake Travel Documents. Mr Veniger presented the state of play regarding the exchange of alerts among the Contracting Parties, followed by identified obstacles and problems regarding exchange of alerts via e-mail. The representatives of the Contracting Parties have shared their experience regarding the exchange in the discussion.

The objectives of the TWG were:
- evaluation of Early Warning System,
- exchange of specimens of genuine documents and
- discussion regarding problems and obstacles identified by exchange of alerts and decision on further way of exchange of information.   

Participants have discussed and been informed about:
- state of play regarding forged and fake travel documents in PCC SEE Contracting Parties and in EU Member states,
- new methods for detecting fake and forged documents,
- new methods of misuse of travel documents and
- further work of TWG and improvement of exchange of alerts.

The representatives of CPs presented the state of play regarding new forms, methods and misuse of forged and fake travel documents in CPs. Mr Miran Kondrič, Senior police inspector in Border police division of General Police Directorate - Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Slovenia, followed with presentation regarding new Slovenian EU resident permit and the latest trends in the field of forged and fake documents in Slovenia, where he presented the most interesting cases of detected misused documents at the border-crossing points in Slovenia.
Ms. Monika Weber from ICMPD presented the activities conducted by ICMPD in the field of document security.

Mr Miran Kondrič also acquainted the participants with the decision adopted by the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU regarding access to iFADO to the CPs of the PCC SEE which are not EU member states. The participants were notified that The General Secretariat of the Council of the EU shall request additional clarification on this matter, and they have agreed that PCC SEE Secretariat will prepare an appropriate answer after receiving the request.

During the final session the representatives of CPs exchanged specimens of genuine documents among CPs and discussed the possible solutions for existing problems regarding the exchange of genuine documents, such as restrictive national legislation and incomplete databases of genuine documents for certain countries. The participants have proposed to prepare a list of genuine documents that they are missing in their databases in order to exchange them at the next meeting of the TWG.



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