THE ANDEAN COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS

HAVING SEEN: Articles 3 and 16 of the Cartagena Agreement, Decision 458 on Common Foreign Policy Guideline issued by the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers, Guideline 26 of the Eleventh Andean Presidential Council, and General Secretariat Proposal 52;

WHEREAS:

The Member Countries have set themselves the common target of forming the Andean Common Market no later than the year 2005;

The travel document known as the Andean Passport, which is to be created, shall become an instrument contributing to the consolidation of a Community consciousness and cohesion among the citizens of the Member Countries; it shall also identify the Andean Community internationally as a group of countries that are committed to a shared integration project;

The creation of an Andean passport as a sovereign decision of each of the Member Countries shall reinforce their commitment to the Community;

The Andean Committee of Immigration Authorities (CAAM) at their Fifth Regular Meeting approved the draft Decision creating the Andean Passport.

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To create the travel document known as the "Andean Passport," which shall be based on a standard model and may be used by the citizens of the Member Countries in their migratory movements.

Article 2.- The Andean Passport shall have the following basic characteristics:

a. It shall be in a booklet format measuring 88 mm by 125 mm, with rounded edges.

b. The cover shall be wine-colored.

c. The lettering on the cover shall be gold-colored.

d. The words "ANDEAN COMMUNITY" shall be centered in large characters in the upper part of the cover page, followed by the national coat-of-arms of the issuing Member Country and its official name.

e. The lower portion of the cover page shall read "PASSPORT" in both Spanish and English.

These shall be the characteristics of the normal or common national passports.

Article 3.- The General Secretariat shall present to the Andean Committee of Immigration Authorities (CAAM), within a period of six months, a proposed standard system of the minimum specific technical nomenclature and security characteristics of the Andean Passport, based on recommendations made by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and with the assistance of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The Andean Council of Foreign Ministers shall approve this standard system through the issue of a Decision.

Article 4.- The creation of the Andean Passport is a sovereign decision of the Member Countries. Without discrediting the stipulations of this Decision, it shall be issued subject to the provisions of the respective national legislations.

Article 5.- The Andean Passport shall enter into effect no later than December 2005. If a Member Country decides to put the Andean Passport into use before that date, it shall so inform the Andean Community General Secretariat and the other Member Countries for their corresponding recognition.

Article 6.- This Decision shall become effective on the date of its publication in the Official Gazette of the Cartagena Agreement.

TEMPORARY PROVISION

SOLE.- The Andean Committee of Immigration Authorities (CAAM) shall follow up the development of this matter in each Member Country on a biannual basis, as provided for in this Decision, until use of the Andean Passport has been fully instituted.

Signed in the city of Valencia, Venezuela, on the twenty-second of June of two thousand and one.