Country-wide policy
Denmark Stands Outside the Union's Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, Except for the Rule About Who Needs a Visa
Protocol No 22 keeps Denmark out of the adoption of measures under Title V of Part Three of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and says that none of those measures binds or applies in Denmark. For measures that build on the Schengen acquis, article 4 gives Denmark six months to decide whether to implement each one in national law, and where it does, the measure creates an obligation under international law between Denmark and the other member states rather than becoming Union law. Article 6 then cuts a hole in all of that: articles 1 to 3 do not apply to measures determining which third countries' nationals need a visa, or to measures on a uniform visa format. That is why Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 binds Denmark the way it binds Sweden, and why the Regulation's preamble has recitals about the United Kingdom and Ireland and none about Denmark.
Topics it changes
What it requires
- Nothing an individual does. This is a feature of the instruments, not a condition on a person
At a glance
- Measures under Title V of Part Three
- Not binding on or applicable in Denmark
Article 2 of Protocol No 22.
- Schengen-building measures
- Denmark decides within six months whether to implement each one
Article 4(1) of Protocol No 22. Implementation creates an obligation under international law rather than Union law.
- Measures on who needs a visa
- Outside the opt-out entirely
Article 6 of Protocol No 22, which disapplies articles 1, 2 and 3 to them.
- Recitals about Denmark in Regulation (EU) 2018/1806
- None in the preamble as published in the Official Journal
The Official Journal text was read in full: the preamble runs to thirty-nine recitals, the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth name the United Kingdom and Ireland, and none names Denmark.
- How the opt-out could end
- Denmark may tell the other member states it no longer wishes to rely on it
Article 7 of Protocol No 22, in accordance with Denmark's constitutional requirements.
What a reader of the consolidated text cannot see
EUR-Lex publishes Regulation (EU) 2018/1806 at two addresses. The consolidated text of 30 December 2025 carries every amendment and no preamble at all, so the question of who is bound cannot be asked of it. The Official Journal version carries the preamble and answers it: thirty-nine recitals, with Iceland and Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the United Kingdom and Ireland each getting one, and Denmark getting none. The absence is the finding, and it is only visible in the version that most readers never open.
What the law says
«Denmark shall not take part in the adoption by the Council of proposed measures pursuant to Title V of Part Three of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The unanimity of the members of the Council, with the exception of the representative of the government of Denmark, shall be necessary for the decisions of the Council which must be adopted unanimously.»About this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«None of the provisions of Title V of Part Three of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, no measure adopted pursuant to that Title, no provision of any international agreement concluded by the Union pursuant to that Title, and no decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union interpreting any such provision or measure or any measure amended or amendable pursuant to that Title shall be binding upon or applicable in Denmark; and no such provision, measure or decision shall in any way affect the competences, rights and obligations of Denmark; and no such provision, measure or decision shall in any way affect the Community or Union acquis nor form part of Union law as they apply to Denmark.»About this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Denmark shall decide within a period of six months after the Council has decided on a proposal or initiative to build upon the Schengen acquis covered by this Part, whether it will implement this measure in its national law. If it decides to do so, this measure will create an obligation under international law between Denmark and the other Member States bound by the measure.»The mechanism that is used instead, and the reason some measures bind Denmark as international law rather than Union law.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Articles 1, 2 and 3 shall not apply to measures determining the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of a visa when crossing the external borders of the Member States, or measures relating to a uniform format for visas.»The carve-out that decides the visa question.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«At any time Denmark may, in accordance with its constitutional requirements, inform the other Member States that it no longer wishes to avail itself of all or part of this Protocol. In that event, Denmark will apply in full all relevant measures then in force taken within the framework of the European Union.»About this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«This Regulation constitutes a development of the provisions of the Schengen acquis in which the United Kingdom does not take part, in accordance with Council Decision 2000/365/EC ( 15 ) ; the United Kingdom is therefore not taking part in the adoption of this Regulation and is not bound by it or subject to its application.»The United Kingdom.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«This Regulation constitutes a development of the provisions of the Schengen acquis in which Ireland does not take part, in accordance with Council Decision 2002/192/EC ( 16 ) ; Ireland is therefore not taking part in the adoption of this Regulation and is not bound by it or subject to its application»Ireland, and the last recital of the preamble.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Union's legal database. Publishes each act as adopted in the Official Journal and, separately, a consolidated version carrying every amendment to a stated date, identified as 0YYYYRNNNN-YYYYMMDD. The consolidated text marks each amended passage with the instrument that changed it.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text is explicitly not authentic - EUR-Lex says so on the document - and only the Official Journal version has legal force. It also says nothing about how any member state applies the act: a regulation is directly applicable but the border practice, the evidence an officer may ask for and the national exceptions are in national law, which is published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Bestemmelserne i Europa-Parlamentets og Rådets forordning om en fællesskabskodeks for visa (visumkodeks) med senere ændringer gælder her i landet.»Known to be out of date. Six Acts amending the Aliens Act were published after this consolidation was signed: lov nr. 1344 af 25. november 2025, lov nr. 1648 af 16. december 2025, lov nr. 1750 af 29. december 2025, lov nr. 725 og 726 af 1. september 2026 and lov nr. 765 og 766 af 8. september 2026. None of them was read for this record. The consolidation also prints, in its own opening pages, a list of amendments it does not incorporate because the minister has not set the date they take effect.
A Danish example of the article 4 mechanism at work: the Visa Code applies here because the Aliens Act says it does.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Danish state's common legal information system, run by Civilstyrelsen under the Ministry of Justice. It serves every Act, consolidated Act, ministerial regulation, circular and guidance document at a stable ELI address of the form https://www.retsinformation.dk/{pubMedia}/{year}/{number}, where pubMedia is lta for Lovtidende A, retsinfo for documents published on the service itself and mt for Ministerialtidende. Each document is offered in three representations off that address: the bare address, which is a JavaScript shell; /pdf, which is the publisher's own typeset PDF with a real text layer; and /dan/xml, which is the LexDania source. A consolidated Act prints on its first page the consolidation it supersedes, every amending Act folded into it, and a paragraph-by-paragraph list of the amendments it does NOT incorporate because the minister has not yet set their commencement date. The XML carries a metadata block with the accession number, the signature date, a Status field reading Valid or Historic, and a Change block naming each amending instrument.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The address itself serves a 4.8 KB React shell and no text; a reading taken from it is page furniture, not the law. The XML representation of older documents can be metadata only: Danmarks Riges Grundlov, the Constitution that Danish naturalisation rests on, has a record with a title and a status and no text at all, and its /pdf address answers 404. The free-text parameter of the public search API is ignored, so the service can be filtered by document type and ministry but not searched by word from outside the browser. A document marked Historic may still be operative: the 2014 regulation listing the countries whose driving licences exchange without a test is marked Historic because the 2016 regulation repealed it, and the 2016 regulation's own transitional provision keeps its list in force. The StartDate and EndDate fields in the XML are record-keeping dates and are not the validity period of the instrument - they must not be read as a commencement or a repeal. The service publishes what has been enacted and nothing about how an agency applies it: the Positive List, the unemployment level that opens one of the salary routes, the driving-licence exchange list and the annually adjusted amounts are all published elsewhere by the administering body.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The Edinburgh Decision of December 1992, which the Protocol recalls, was not read.
Which Schengen-building measures Denmark has implemented under article 4, and which it has not, is not recorded here. Only the mechanism is.