Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders

On 19 June 1990 the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement was signed. Its key points relate to measures designed to create, following the abolition of common border checks, a common area of security and justice. Specifically it is concerned with

• harmonising provisions relating to entry into and short stays in the Schengen area by non-EU citizens (uniform Schengen visa),
• asylum matters (determining in which member state an application for asylum may be submitted),
• measures to combat cross-border drugs-related crime,
• police cooperation, and
• cooperation among Schengen states on judicial matters.

The Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement entered into force on 1 September 1993. Its provisions could not take practical effect, however, until the necessary technical and legal prerequisites such as data banks and the relevant data protection authorities were in place. The Convention thus took practical effect on 26 March 1995.