Commission Wants Member States to Impose Stricter Rules on Arrivals From Outside EU

The European Union Commission has urged the Member States to impose stricter restrictions on arrivals from non-EU countries amid the spread of the new CVOID-19 variants in different parts of the world, including in several countries in the block.

In a press release published by the EU Commission on January 25, 2021, the latter urges for additional measures to be introduced on arrival from outside the EU, in order to make sure travelling does not increase the risk of COVID-19 spread in Europe.

“Member States should introduce additional measures to ensure that travel into the EU takes place safely. This concerns those travelling to the EU for essential reasons, EU citizens and long-term residents as well as their family members, and those travelling from countries for which the non-essential travel restriction was lifted,” the Commission notes in a press release.

It further recommends the following measures to be taken:

• Mandatory testing before departure
• Stricter measures to address virus variants of concern
• Implementation of common European Passenger Locator Form

The Commission advises the Member States to oblige arriving travellers from non-EU countries to present a document proving they have tested for COVID-19 in the last 72 hours before their arrival and resulted negative.

“EU citizens, residents and their family members should have the possibility to take the test after arrival,” the Commission suggests.

It also notes that mandatory testing can be combined with a requirement of self-isolation, quarantine and contact tracing as well as additional testing as needed for a period of up to 14 days, provided that the Member State imposes the same requirements on its own nationals when travelling from the same non-EU country.

At the same time, the Commission recommends to the Member States to exempt some categories of essential travellers from these requirements, in particular, if the requirements would impede the very purpose of the travel, i.e., transport and cross-border workers.

As per entry restrictions on travellers reaching the European Union countries, the Commission suggests imposing systematic safety measures such as self-isolation, quarantine and contact tracing for a period of up to 14 days.

It also urges the Member States to oblige travellers entering the EU to complete Passenger Locator Form in accordance with applicable data protection requirements.

On January 25, the Commission has updated the Council Recommendation of last October coordinating measures affecting free movement by tightening these measures. Overall, some of the most important points of the updated recommendation are as follow:

• adding a dark red to the colour coded maps, to identify through it the areas where the 14-day notification rate is more than 500 per 100,000 people
• obliging travellers from ‘dark red’ areas to undergo a test prior to arrival, and to quarantine as practised by several of the Member States
• exemption of border regions’ residents from some restrictions, in particular, if they frequently need to cross the border, i.e., for family or work reasons

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