Proposed EU COVID-19 safety rules on international travellers coming to the EU

The European Commission yesterday addressed the threat of new COVID-19 strains and proposed ‘additional safeguards and requirements’ for international travellers into the EU. It has also proposed updated criteria on testing and detection for Member States to take into account when deciding whether to restrict non-essential travel to the EU from a non-EU country.

The additional safeguards include: a mandatory negative PCR test taken 72 hours before departure - and a further possibility distinguishing EU citizens, residents and their family members who should be entitled to take the test after arrival; stricter measures to be applied to those countries from which a virus-variant ‘of concern’ has been detected such as systematically