Mirko Bandelj l. r.
Za Vlado Republike Makedonije
Tomislav Čokrevski l. r.
The Government of the Republic of Slovenia and the Government of the Republic of Macedonia (hereinafter referred to as the Contracting Parties),
with the desire to facilitate, in the spirit of good co-operation and on the mutual basis, the readmission of persons whose entry into and/or residence in a country is contrary to the national law,
have agreed as follows:
I. READMISSION OF THE NATIONALS OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES
Article 1
(1) Each Contracting Party shall, upon request of the other Contracting Party, readmit to its territory any person, who does not or does not any longer, comply with the conditions for entry or stay, applicable on the territory of the requesting Contracting Party, if it is ascertained or validly presumed, that such person has the nationality of the requested Contracting Party.
(2) The nationality may be ascertained or validly presumed on the basis of the documents, mentioned in Annex to the present Agreement. The nationality may also be validly presumed on the basis of other data. In the case of validly presumed nationality the latter shall be ascertained in collaboration with the nearest diplomatic-consular mission of the requested Contracting Party.
(3) The requesting Contracting Party shall, under the same conditions, accept back a readmitted person, if it has been ascertained through further verification that at the moment of leaving the territory of the requesting Contracting Party, the said person did not have the nationality of the requested Contracting Party.
(4) The provisions of this Article shall also apply in case of persons who call upon the existence of his/her requests for renunciation of his/her nationality if the competent authorities have not reached definite decision about them.
II. READMISSION OF THE NATIONALS OF THIRD STATES AND STATELESS PERSONS
Article 2
(1) Each Contracting Party shall readmit to its territory, upon request of the other Contracting Party, a national of a third state or a stateless person who does not, or does not any longer comply with the conditions for entry or stay applicable on the territory of the requesting Contracting Party, if it has been ascertained that such person entered the territory of the Contracting Party after having sojourned in or travelled through the territory of the requested Contracting Party.
(2) Each Contracting Party shall, upon request of the other Contracting Party, readmit a national of a third state or a stateless person who does not, or does not any longer comply with the conditions for entry or stay applicable on the territory of the requesting Contracting Party, if such a person has a valid visa or any other valid residence permit, issued by the requested Contracting Party.
Article 3
The obligation of readmission as provided in Article 2 shall not apply in case of:
a) nationals of third states that have a common state border with the requesting Contracting Party;
b) nationals of third states or stateless persons who, after they left the territory of the requested Contracting Party or after they entered the territory of the requesting Contracting Party, obtained a visa or residence permit from the latter;
c) nationals of third states or stateless persons who have resided for the last six months on the territory of the requesting Contracting Party;
d) nationals of third states or stateless persons who were recognised by the requesting Contracting Party as having either the status of refugee on the basis of the provisions of the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951 and the provisions of the New York Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees of 31 January 1967, or the status of stateless person on the basis of the New York Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons of 28 September 1954;
e) nationals of third states or stateless persons, actually returned by the requested Contracting Party to their state of origin or to any other third state.
Article 4
The requesting Contracting Party agrees to accept back to its territory those nationals of third states or stateless persons for whom it may be ascertained, after adequate verification carried out by the requested Contracting Party, that they do not comply with the clauses under Articles 2 and 3 of the present Agreement at the time of their departure from the territory of the requesting Contracting Party.
III. READMISSION PROCEDURE
Article 5
(1) The requested Contracting Party is obliged to answer the request for readmission in writing without delay, and in any case within a maximum of fifteen days. Any refusal of readmission must be founded.
(2) The requested Contracting Party shall, within one month at the latest, readmit a person whose readmission was confirmed. The said period may be extended upon request by the requesting Contracting Party.
Article 6
The requested Contracting Party shall issue a confirmation of readmission to the requesting Contracting Party, including the identity data and any possible documents of the person whose readmission was requested, and, where the readmission is carried out without an escort, the requesting Contracting Party should be informed in writing.
Article 7
The requesting Contracting Party shall cover the expenses of transportation of persons to be readmitted to the border of the requested Contracting Party. The requesting Contracting Party shall also, if necessary, bear all the expenses in the case of readmission of persons.
IV. TRANSIT IN CASE OF REJECTION
Article 8
(1) Each Contracting Party shall allow, upon request of the other Contracting Party, entry into and transit through its territory to nationals of third states or stateless persons who were rejected by the requesting Contracting Party, provided that such transit is necessary and the most cost-effective. The transit may be carried out by road, rail or air transport.
(2) The requesting Contracting Party shall take full responsibility for the continuation of the travel of such person to the country of final destination and shall readmit such person, if the measure of rejection cannot be carried out for any reason.
(3) The requesting Contracting Party shall confirm to the requested Contracting Party, that the person for whom the transit was approved, has a valid document for the transportation to the country of final destination.
Article 9
The requesting Contracting Party shall inform the requested Contracting Party in case the rejected person needs an escort. The escort shall be provided by the requesting Contracting Party bearing all necessary costs for transit to the country of final destination as well as any costs that may occur in case of return.
Article 10
The request for transit shall be exchanged directly between the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties. The request should contain all data pertaining to the identity and nationality of the person, the date of travel, the time and place of the arrival to the transit state as well as the time and place of the departure from it to the country of final destination and including all data of the officials, if they accompany such a person. The requested Contracting Party shall answer the request for transit submitted by the requesting Contracting Party within the period of forty-eight hours from the day of receipt of such request.
Article 11
The transit may be rejected if the person is threatened to be prosecuted or sentenced in the country of final destination because of his/her race, religion, ethnicity or membership of a certain social group or because of his/her political opinion.
V. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 12
The Contracting Parties shall define through the diplomatic channels:
- the state authorities responsible for dealing with applications for readmission or transit;
- international border crossings that may be used for the readmission or entrance of persons in transit.
Article 13
Insofar as personal data have to be communicated in order to implement this Agreement, such information should contain only the following:
a) the particulars of the person to be transferred and, when necessary, of the members of the person’s family, such as: surname, given name, any previous names, nicknames or pseudonyms, aliases, date and place of birth, sex, current and any previous nationality;
b) passport, travel document, laissez-passer or any other identity document (number, date of issue, issuing authority, place of issue, period of validity);
c) other details needed to identify the person to be transferred;
d) itineraries;
e) entry permits issued by one of the Contracting Parties or a third state, their descriptions;
f) if necessary, the need for special assistance to elderly or sick persons should be notified.
Article 14
(1) The provisions of the present Agreement shall not interfere with any obligations for the readmission or return of persons which derive from other international agreements in force for the Contracting Parties.
(2) The provisions of the present Agreement shall not prevent the application of the provisions of the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951, complemented by the New York Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees of 31 January 1967 and the New York Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons of 28 September 1954.
(3) The provisions of the present Agreement shall not prevent the application of the provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 4 November 1950.
Article 15
Any dispute concerning the interpretation or application of this Agreement shall be settled through diplomatic channels.
Article 16
(1) This Agreement shall apply provisionally from the date of its signature and shall enter into force on the date of the receipt of the latter note by which the Contracting Parties notify each other of the fulfilment of all internal legal requirements necessary for its entry into force.
(2) Each Contracting Party may temporarily suspend the implementation, in whole or in part, with the exception of Article 2 of this Agreement for reasons of state security, public order or public health by notification to the other Contracting Party. The suspension shall become effective immediately.
(3) This Agreement is concluded for an indefinite period. Each Contracting Party may terminate this Agreement by notification to the other Contracting Party. The termination shall become effective on the first day of the second month following the month in which notification was received by the other Contracting Party.
In confirmation of the above, the representatives of both Contracting Parties, duly authorised for this purpose, have signed the present Agreement.
Done at Ljubljana on the 27 January 1998 in two originals in Slovenian, Macedonian and English languages, all three texts being equally authentic. In case of any dispute or difference in the interpretation of the present Agreement, the English text shall prevail.
For the Government of the Republic of Slovenia
Mirko Bandelj (s)
For the Government of the Republic of Macedonia
Tomislav Čokrevski (s)
ANNEX
TO THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA ON READMISSION OF PERSONS WHOSE ENTRY INTO AND/OR RESIDENCE IS CONTRARY TO THE NATIONAL LAW
In the case of the Republic of Slovenia the nationality may be ascertained or validly presumed on the basis of the following documents of the Republic of Slovenia:
– citizenship certificate;
– passport;
– identity card;
even if such documents were issued incorrectly or if they expired not more than three years previously.
In the case of the Republic of Macedonia the nationality may be ascertained or validly presumed on the basis of the following documents of the Republic of Macedonia:
– citizenship certificate;
– passport;
– identity card;
even if such documents were issued incorrectly or if they expired not more than three years previously.