COUNCIL OF EUROPE
COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS
________
RESOLUTION INSTITUTING A EUROPEAN CARD FOR SUBSTANTIALLY HANDICAPPED PERSONS
(adopted by the Representatives of France, the Federal Republic of
Germany and Italy,
meeting in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 4 November 1977)
The Representatives of France, the Federal Republic of Germany and Italy, meeting in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe,
Having regard to Resolutions(51)29 of 3 May 1951 and (51)62 of 2 August 1951 concerning Partial Agreements,
Considering the decisions reached by the Committee of Ministers at Deputy level, at their 245th meeting, on the establishment by means of a Partial Agreement of a European card for substantially handicapped persons,
Considering Resolution(75)15 on the provision of facilities for substantially handicapped people in the member States of the Council of Europe,
Resolve to approve the "European card for substantially handicapped persons", whose terms and arrangements for issue are laid down in the Appendix to this Resolution, on the understanding that
Appendix to the Resolution(a) the Resolution is to be considered as adopted only by the States whose representatives have voted in its favour;
(b) that its application is restricted accordingly;
(c) that any additional expenditure incurred by the Council of Europe on the institution of this card will be borne exclusively by the member States whose representatives have voted in favour of the present Resolution.
A "European Card for substantially handicapped persons" (referred to below as "the card") is hereby instituted, with the purpose of enabling any substantially handicapped national of any participating state to secure recognition of this status when travelling in the territory of other participating states and to benefit from the available facilities and rights of priority.
2. The Card will be issued at the request of the persons concerned by the bodies authorised to do so by the Government of each participating state; such application may be made by substantially handicapped persons who are nationals of the participating states and reside habitually on its territory and who, by reason of their handicap, are likely to encounter difficulties, particularly when travelling abroad.
3. The benefit of paragraph 2 may also be extended to refugees and stateless persons habitually residing in the territory of the state in question who fall within the scope of the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951 and of the New York Convention of 28 September 1954, respectively.
4. The Government of each participating state recognises the validity in its territory of the Cards issued by the authorised bodies of the other participating states.
5. The Card will be prepared by the Secretariat of the Council of Europe in accordance with a uniform model so that the Cards will only differ according to the order of the languages used. Each of the states participating in the Partial Agreement shall be itself responsible for the printing and distribution of the card, at its own expenditure and in accordance with its own needs, in conformity with a uniform model prepared by the Secretariat in the official languages of the participating states.
6. The Secretariat will prepare and subsequently keep up to date an information brochure in the languages of the participating states, containing information on:
(a) the facilities which each participating state makes available to bearers of the card;
(b) the bodies empowered to issue the card;
(c) how to obtain and use the card.
Responsibility for printing and distributing the brochure will be assumed directly be each of the participating states, at its own expense and in accordance with its own requirements.