43At the time of the events in question in the main proceedings, there were no common rules or harmonised laws of the Member States on, in particular, controls at external frontiers and immigration, visa and asylum policy. Consequently, even if, under Article 7a or Article 8a of the Treaty, nationals of the Member States did have an unconditional right to move freely within the territory of the Member States, the Member States retained the right to carry out identity checks at the internal frontiers of the Community, requiring persons to present a valid identity card or passport, as provided for by Directives 68/360, 73/148, 90/364, 90/365 and 93/96, in order to be able to establish whether the person concerned is a national of a Member State, thus having the right to move freely within the territory of the Member States, or a national of a nonmember country, not having that right.
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