INAUGURAL MEETING OF CROATIA VISA WAIVER WORKING GROUP

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 001095 SIPDIS SENSITIVE FOR EUR/SCE, CA/VO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CVIS CMGT PREL KFRD HR SUBJECT: INAUGURAL MEETING OF CROATIA VISA WAIVER WORKING GROUP (U) Sensitive But Unclassified; please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In November, the Croatian MFA hosted the first meeting of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) Working Group. Embassy participants, including the DCM, Political Counselor, Consul, Econ Officer, and the RSO, presented the requirements for a country to be considered for inclusion in the VWP. Croatian participants, including representatives from the MFA, the Ministry of Interior, the State Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Agency for the Protection of Personal Information, and the Ministry of the Sea, Tourism, Trade, and Development, presented their respective agencies' status with regard to those requirements. Croatia does not currently satisfy the requirements for inclusion in the VWP, but participants at this meeting expressed a commitment to work toward fulfilling the requirements as soon as possible. -------------- - REPORTING LOST AND STOLEN PASSPORT INFORMATION -------------- - ¶2. (SBU) The GoC currently does not provide lost and stolen passport (LASP) data to the USG, though it does provide this data to Interpol and other foreign governments pursuant to bilateral agreements. A bilateral agreement between Croatia and the US will need to be signed before Croatia could provide LASP data to the US. Nor does the GoC provide information regarding trends in lost, stolen, or fraudulent Croatian and third-country passports. The MoI representative reported that it did confiscate a number of fraudulent travel documents, though no US passports. He assured that the relevant countries had been contacted, but provided no further information, stating that the report was an internal working document. -------------- PASSPORT SECURITY FEATURES -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The Croatian passport is machine readable and meets current ICAO standards. All Croatian passports have been centrally issued since 2000. There are no distinguishing features in passports issued to replace lost or stolen travel documents. -------------- BIOMETRIC PASSPORTS -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Croatia does not issue a biometric passport. Working towards EU accession, Croatia is committed to meeting the EU deadline of 2009 for all member states to issue a biometric passport with an integrated data chip. To this end, Croatia has formed a biometric passport working group that has met several times to discuss available options. -------------- REPATRIATION -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Croatia is obligated by its constitution to accept its citizens, as well as stateless citizens who are refused entry to another country when departing Croatia, regardless of whether a repatriation agreement exists with the sending country. -------------- PASSENGER INFORMATION EXCHANGE -------------- ¶6. (SBU) According to the GoC, Croatia has already implemented EU regulations for sharing passenger information, and is in compliance with those regulations. Passenger data is received for all incoming passengers, but not provided for outbound passengers. Croatian representatives also noted that VWP requirements exceeded those required by current EU regulations, and that the carrier, rather than the government, has the responsibility to provide passenger data. One Croatian representative noted that the EU currently requires member countries to use Advance Passenger Information System (APIS),although he believes that Spain is the only EU country currently using APIS due to legal challenges to the requirement by other EU member states. -------------- AIRPORT AND BORDER SECURITY -------------- ¶7. (SBU) The GoC confirmed that airport officials screen 100 percent of passengers, luggage, and cargo. Croatian law requires a background check on all airport employees. Currently only two border crossing points have the ability to capture traveler information, with seven more expected to be operational in the near future. Croatia is the beneficiary of the EU Twinning Project, and eventually plans to have at least twenty-five border crossing points equipped with electronic passport readers. Croatia has had formal inspections of its airports by other countries. A formal FAA inspection of Croatian airports has not been conducted, although Croatia welcomes such an inspection. -------------- -------------- ASSISTANCE IN THE OPERATION OF THE AIR MARSHAL PROGRAM -------------- -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Croatia does not currently participate in the US Air Marshal program (there are no direct flights to the US at this time). Croatia has signed at least one MoU which provides for support of an air marshal program, so such assistance is not unprecedented. -------------- --- SHARING LAW ENFORCEMENT AND SECURITY INFORMATION -------------- --- ¶9. (SBU) Croatia shares information directly with the United States on certain issues related to security and terrorism, but does not directly share law enforcement information on its citizens. Specifically, the transfer of information across international borders is forbidden, which includes prohibition on transfer of data to representatives of foreign governments in Croatia. Requests for law-enforcement information on Croatian citizens must be made through Interpol channels for consideration, but this mechanism does not guarantee that all requested information will be shared. ¶10. (SBU) Some direct information-sharing agreements exist between Croatia and other countries in the form of bilateral treaties and MoU's. Croatia's State Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Justice have several such agreements with other countries. No formal direct information-sharing agreement currently exists between the United States and Croatia. ¶11. (SBU) A representative from the Croatian Agency for the Protection of Personal Data stated that the Croatian law regulating the protection of personal data is in line with EU Directive 46/95 on the protection of personal data. The representative acknowledged that Article 13 of the Croatian Law is overly vague, and therefore interpreted very broadly. The law, in particular Article 13, will be aligned with EU laws by the last quarter of 2008. -------------- CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPS -------------- ¶12. (SBU) The US visa refusal rate for Croatians is well within the 10 percent maximum (5.8 percent). Representatives also noted that Croatia shares political, economic, and security information in support of global security and is a reliable ally for NATO. As a next step to achieving the goal of visa waiver, the GoC representatives requested that the Embassy prepare a list of steps needed and agreements to be signed. ¶13. (SBU) Comment: The Croatian representatives expressed a commitment to work toward meeting the requirements for inclusion in the VWP. However, the Croatian Law on the Protection of Personal Data is likely to continue to hinder progress. In addition, changes in the Croatian government resulting from parliamentary elections in late November may shuffle some of the players in the ministries participating in the VWP Working Group. Embassy will follow up in the new year to monitor GoC progress and provide assistance as appropriate. End comment. BRADTKE