EU Internal Market Law - Essay Example

  EU Internal Market Law MUTULA AND CO ADVOCATES #789 Zobel Roxas St. Makati Telephone No. 3727648 hatoldeleonlawoffices@yahoo.com February 23, 2011 Salvatore Benevonte #1563 Lubanga Avenue Long Island, New York Dear Mr. Salvatore, Thank you for your letter on February 20, 2011, in which you requested legal advice immigration issues. Below is my legal opinion answering your questions. A. Could the immigration officer deny Mr. Benevento leave to enter the UK? Explain. On which grounds? Does it make a difference, if the immigration officer suspects that Mr.

Benevento is involved in human trafficking with regard to the two women? The immigration officer could deny Mr Benevento leave to enter the UK due to the different system policy of immigration which the UK applies. The European Union Internal market is aimed at guaranteeing the free movement of services, capital goods and persons across the borders of the 27 EU states. The EU Internal Market protocol on movement of people is governed by the Schengen Area protocol which allows people from all member states of the EU to move freely across borders without physical restrictions1.

While the EU internal market protocol enables workers to freely travel, reside and work in member states, this is not allowed in the abovementioned countries which still maintain physical restrictions. Suspicion that Mr. Benevento is involved in human trafficking through association with the two women he is believed to be travelling with makes his case even dire. The United Kingdom has not agreed with the EU internal market protocols with regard to free movement of people due to issues of trafficking and illegal immigration2.

If he is suspected of trafficking the women into the UK, the immigration officer has every right to deny him entry into the UK. B. It appears that the two women are traveling with Italian identity cards. Italian identity cards are made of paper only and therefore rather easy to forge (see photo). The two women are detained for checking the authenticity of their travel documents and verifying their nationality. The immigration authorities question Mr. Benevento and 10 other male passenger from the same flight on suspicion that they may be involved in human trafficking.

Is this in line with EU law? The fact that the two women are travelling with Italian identity card serves to make the situation worse for Mr. Benevento. The EU Internal market protocol asserts that the national identity cards issued by the members of the European Economic Area are acceptable as travel and entry documents in any nation of the EU3. The detention of the two women and the questioning of Mr. Benevento and ten other passengers in the flight is not in line with EU law which guarantees persons entry into all EEA nations if they have a passport or national identity card.

On the other hand, since the UK is dealing with a high number of illegal immigrations it is not party to the EU Internal market protocol on movement of persons and hence it has the right to detain persons and confirm their identity. EU law allows immigration officials to detain persons having suspect documents before validation from the country that issued them. As such the immigration official has every right to check the Italian documents held by Benevento and since he is suspected of being in the company of the women suspected of being trafficked it is not unlawful that he is detained and questioned.

The detention and questioning is in line with the physical restrictions of the UK which has not ratified the internal market protocol on movement of persons. C. Mr. Benevento is given leave to enter the UK. Two months later, he finds out he is HIV positive. Will this fact affect his residence rights? Mr. Benevento’s residency status will be affected by his medical condition depending on a number of factors. The EU Internal Market Protocol allows free travel, work and residence of nationals of EU member states regardless of medical status.

However the residency status of Benevento will be affected if he has stayed in the UK less than three months and his medical status makes him unable to work. Since he cannot claim retirement, since he has not attained the mandatory three month period, his residency will be repudiated4.