The EU Commission says flight and travel bans should be discontinued, while non-essential travel to and from the UK “should be discouraged.”
The Commission has recommended a “coordinated approach” to travel and transport measures, following a rapid increase of Covid.19 cases in parts of England, of which a large proportion belongs to a new variant of the virus.
“While it is important to take swift temporary precautionary action to limit the further spread of the new strain, essential travel and transit of passengers should be facilitated,” according to the Commission, which also recommends a “coordinated approach to freedom of movement in response to the Covid-19 epidemic.”
“Until the end of December, free movement rules still apply to the UK, which means that Member States should not in principle refuse the entry of persons travelling from the UK. After the end of the transition period, the UK will be subject to Council Recommendation on the temporary restriction on non-essential travel into the EU and the possible lifting of such restriction.”
The Commission recommends to Member States that:
- In the light of the precautionary principle, all non-essential travel to and from the UK should be discouraged until further notice.
- However, Union citizens and UK citizens travelling to their Member State or country of residence as well as third-country nationals that enjoy EU free movement rights should be exempted from further temporary restrictions provided that they undergo a test or quarantine.
- Travelers with an essential function, for instance medical staff, should be required to undergo a test (RT-PCR test or a rapid antigen test within 72 hours prior to departure), but should not be required to undergo quarantine.
- Transport staff, within the EU, should be exempted from any travel ban across any border and from testing and quarantine requirements when they are travelling across a border to and from a vessel, vehicle, or aircraft. Where a Member State requires rapid antigen tests for transport workers, this should not lead to transport disruptions.
- Transit of passengers, especially for essential travel, should be facilitated without quarantine. A test can be required, but authorities need to inform about such requirement in advance or offer testing during the journey.
- Given the need to ensure essential travel and transit home as described in the recommendation, any prohibition of transport services, such as flight or train bans, should be discontinued.
- Cargo flows need to continue uninterrupted, in accordance with the Green Lanes and the Air Cargo Communication, not least to ensure the timely distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, for example.
- The public health authorities of the Member States should increase sequencing efforts and analyze virus isolates in a timely manner to swiftly identify cases of the new variant. They should also immediately identify cases involving persons who travelled to or from the UK in the past 14 days or who are close contacts of confirmed cases in order to ensure the appropriate follow up (eg. RT-PCR testing, isolation, enhanced contact tracing).
In line with Article 126 of the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, the transition period agreed by the parties will expire on 31 December 2020.
As of 1 January 2021, the United Kingdom will become a third country and Member States shall start applying the “Recommendation on the temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU” to people travelling from the UK, in view of the end of the transition period. Accordingly, in principle only essential travel may take place from the United Kingdom unless the Council decides the UK would be exempt.
These recommendations may mean EU countries, including Spain, will withdraw the travel ban and open their borders, however, equally, they may decide to ignore them.
In theory this recommendation should also being to an end the long queues of lorries waiting at the UK/French borders controls.
Nexonr will keep readers informed of any changes.
