Upon the latest evaluation of the COVID-19 situation status around the world, the EU Council has recommended the suspension of travel restrictions for Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and Namibia in an amendment of Council Recommendation (EU) 2020/912.
Although the authorities of member states of the EU have the last word on the application of the Council’s recommendation, this is another important step in the simplification of non-essential travel to the European Union.
From 28 October 2021, fully vaccinated nationals of Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and Namibia can land on EU territories without being affected by current external borders restrictions associated with COVID-19. In other words, these foreigners will not need special permissions to enter EU territories as long as they can prove they’re correctly immunized against COVID-19.
Other countries on the “safe” list are Chile, Uruguay, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ukraine, Rwanda, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, South Korea, and China (including the territorial authority of Taiwan and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau).
The EU countries shut down their borders at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent the spread of the disease. The EU authorities started reopening the borders gradually in mid-2020 when the Council adopted a recommendation including a list of countries whose travel restrictions to the EU should be lifted.
The recommendation is based on each third country’s updated COVID-19 statistics. The Council checks these statistics and their veracity every two weeks, taking into account the reliability of the sources. Following close consultation with the Commission and relevant EU agencies, the Council might advise EU authorities to reduce travel restrictions for countries with an acceptable number of COVID-19 cases.
From 20 May 2021, the acceptable infection rate is 75 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and a 4% positivity rate in COVID-19 tests performed in the country in the last 14 days (out of 300 per 100,000 inhabitants). The progress of vaccination campaigns might also be considered, as well as the detection of variants of interest or variants of concern.
If any of the countries proposed for lifted bans failed to meet these requirements in the future, it could be removed from the list in the next evaluation of COVID-19 data. Eventually, non-essential travelers could face difficulties when arriving at one of the EU territories encompassed in the recommendation: Portugal, Spain, France, Andorra, Italy, San Marino, Monaco, Vatican City, Malta, Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Belgium, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Poland, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Iceland.
Ireland is not affected by the EU Council’s recommendation because it is not part of the Schengen acquis. Denmark, which is not bound by the recommendation according to Protocol 22 on the Position of Denmark but is part of the Schengen acquis, must make a decision on the Council’s recommendation within the next six months in accordance with the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
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