Updated rules on travel into the EU
23 February 2022: The European Council adopted on 22 February a Recommendation amending Council Recommendation (EU) 2020/912 on the temporary restriction on nonessential travel into the EU and the possible lifting of such restriction. The European Commission’s proposal was adopted on the 25 November 2021.
This new Recommendation should allow the restart of international flights to the EU, heavily challenged by the developments of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent Omicron variant. The Council followed a person-based approach, instead of the situation at regional level.
Indeed, under the new Recommendation, Member States should not only accept COVID-19 vaccines that have been recognised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) but also those having completed the emergency listing procedure of the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as external EU recovered travellers. In this latter case, Member States may however impose the requirement of a negative pre-departure PCR test.
Member States could also accept vaccinated external EU travellers not holding a valid EU DCC or equivalent if they are able to provide a negative pre-departure PCR test.
Children above the age of 6 and under the age of 18 which are in possession of a valid proof of COVID-19 vaccination issued on the basis of a COVID-19 vaccine authorised by the EMA should be exempted of PCR tests requirements. Otherwise, a proof of a negative pre-departure PCR test is required.
The full recommendation is available to download from the top of this page.
ERA welcomes the adoption of the EU Council Recommendation for external travellers coming into the EU and calls Member States to comply with the Recommendation and implement it in a uniform way to avoid national patchworks.