The European Union laissez passer (EULP) offices in Brussels and Luxembourg reopened their doors to applicants for EULP on 25 May. The Frankfurt office will start receiving again applicants for EULP on 8 July, while its team can be contacted in the meantime by email or phone. All the EULP offices will be working on an “appointment only” basis until… Read more »

Travel documents must always be a step ahead in terms of security features – be they optical security features of the booklet or card, or electronic security features in the chip – in order to make the efforts of counterfeiters and criminals a waste of time. Therefore, countries regularly update the design and the security features of their documents. This… Read more »

Education and awareness are key elements for the usage of relatively rare documents. Therefore, Commission representatives are actively spreading the word about the European Union Laissez-Passer. Even after 4 years in circulation, it is not yet widely known and more education work is necessary. Most recently, Mrs. Maresa Meissl, Head of Unit HR.DS.3 Information Security, gave a presentation during the… Read more »

Experiences from the Field Mr Francis Deschrijvere, Local Security Officer for the EU laissez-passer (EULP), shared his experiences gained with the introduction of a brand-new travel document at the High Security Printing Conference in Malta at the end of March 2019. A new document is a challenge, as not only its looks and feels are unknown to border officers, but… Read more »

On Monday, 29 February 2016, the European Union and the People’s Republic of China signed the EU-China short-stay visa waiver agreement for holders of diplomatic passports. This agreement will ensure visa-free travel to the EU and China for stays up to maximum 90 days (within any 180-day period) for holders of a valid diplomatic passport or EU laissez-passer. The visa-waiver… Read more »

Wednesday, June 1, 2016 9:00 – 17:00 h Conférence on the new form of the laissez-passer in Brussels Security – Interoperability – Recognition Three aspects of the modernised EU laissez-passer Hear about the legal basis, the regulatory system and international outreach, as well as the recognition of the EU laissez-passer. See the security features and how to verify them, read… Read more »

After busy preparations and tests, the new form of the laissez-passer issued by the European Union was launched according to schedule on November 24, 2015. This date marks the day after which hand-written travel documents are no longer accepted according to the EU legislation and in line with the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation. The representatives and staff… Read more »

The European Union issues laissez-passer (LP) to its staff members that travel for service. Until now, those LPs were hand-written documents that are according to international rules no longer accepted after November 25, 2015. Therefore, the EU re-designed its documents to be compliant with international standards. The new laissez-passer will be a highly secure document with an integrated chip that… Read more »