Bulgaria’s Ministry of the Interior has introduced new measures against unlawful taking of children out of the country. The new decision follows the country’s partial Schengen accession.
The new measures introduced by the Ministry of the Interior aim to protect kids and prevent them from such situations, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
Under the new rules, if a parent initiates legal proceedings to stop their children from leaving the country, such information will be quickly passed to Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry.
In divorce cases, courts will directly tell law enforcement authorities about any relevant decision.
In addition, the Ministry will be also informed about any decision from other authorities on whether the children can travel or not. Even if other authorities give permission for the child to travel, the ban will remain until the highest court makes a final decision or the time to appeal runs out.
In addition, the data regarding these cases will be added to the Schengen Information System (SIS) so authorities in European countries can know if the child has left the country, according to a report from Novinite. Moreover, in some situations if there is a trial happening, the child may be permitted to leave the country if the court gives permission to do so.
By making sure judges and police cooperate and share information with other territories through the Schengen Information System, the Ministry wants to deal with the problem of children being illegally taken away.
SIS Assisting Bulgaria in Halting Irregular Entries
From March 31 Bulgaria and Romania have entered the Schengen Area by air and sea, thus being subject to all Schengen rules, including issuing Schengen visas and abolishing border controls except for land borders.
Partial accession to the Schengen Zone was also welcomed by the European Commission.
The Schengen accession of these two Member States will make the common area more attractive by significantly expanding the world’s largest common area without internal border controls.
The Schengen Information System (SIS) helps to maintain security and order within the Schengen Zone.
SIS, which is among the most significant EU’s databases, consists of more than 40 million alerts on people and objects, thus permitting competent authorities to exchange information related to missing and wanted persons as well as irregular entrants and lost or stolen identity documents within the bloc.
