The European Union itself does not issue ordinary passports, but ordinary passport booklets issued by its 27 member states share a common format. This common format features a coloured cover (for which burgundy is recommended : all countries except Croatia follow this recommendation) emblazoned—in the official language(s) of the issuing country (and sometimes its translation into English and French)—with the title "European Union", followed by the name(s) of the member state, the heraldic "Arms" of the State concerned, the word "PASSPORT", together with the biometric passport symbol at the bottom centre of the front cover.
Some EU member states also issue non-EU passports to certain people who have a nationality which does not render them citizens of the European Union (e.g., Danish nationals residing in the Faroe Islands).
In addition, the European Commission issues European Union Laissez-Passers to the members and certain civil servants of its institutions.
Use
With a valid passport, EU citizens are entitled to exercise the right of free movement (meaning they do not need a visa, a certain amount of money or a certain reason to travel freely and no residence permit for settling) in the European Economic Area (European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway), Switzerland and, before 31 December 2020 in the United Kingdom.
The passports of EU citizens are not stamped when entering and leaving the Schengen Area.
When going through border controls to enter an aforementioned country, citizens possessing valid biometric passports are sometimes able to use automated gates instead of immigration counters. For example, when entering the United Kingdom, at major airports, holders of EU biometric passports who are twelve years of age or older can use ePassport gates, whilst all other EU citizens (such as those using a national identity card or a non-biometric passport) and some non-EEA citizens must use an immigration counter. Anyone travelling with children under the age of 12 must also use an immigration counter.
As an alternative to holding a passport, EU citizens can also use a valid national identity card to exercise their right of free movement within the EEA, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (until 1st October 2021 for visitors from the EU). Strictly speaking, it is not necessary for an EU citizen to possess a valid passport or national identity card to enter the EEA or Switzerland. In theory, if an EU citizen outside of both the EEA and Switzerland can prove their nationality by any other means (e.g. by presenting an expired passport or national identity card, or a citizenship certificate), they must be permitted to enter the EEA or Switzerland. An EU citizen who is unable to demonstrate their nationality satisfactorily must nonetheless be given 'every reasonable opportunity' to obtain the necessary documents or to have them delivered within a reasonable period of time.
Common design features
While considerable progress has been made in harmonising some features, the data page can be found at the front or at the back of an EU passport booklet and there are significant design differences throughout to indicate which member state is the issuer.
Since the 1980s, European Union member states have started to harmonise aspects of the designs of their ordinary passport booklets. Most passports issued by EU member states have the common recommended layout: burgundy in colour with the words "European Union" accompanied by the name of the issuing member state printed on the cover. Non-standard types of passports, such as passport cards (Ireland is still the only EU country to issue a passport in card format), diplomatic, service, and emergency passports have not yet been harmonised.
The newest EU member state Croatia refused to fully comply with the EU common recommended layout even though the Croatian passport has been changed in design due to the recent accession into the EU. From 3 August 2015, the new Croatian passport retained its dark blue passport cover and is the odd one out among the 27 European Union member states' passports.