Member States’ ambassadors to the EU decided on Wednesday 30 June to extend the EU list of third countries whose residents can once again travel to the EU for non-essential reasons.
They decided to add 11 countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brunei, Canada, Jordan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. On 16 June, the ambassadors had added eight more countries and territories to the list, which states that people from these countries can travel to Member States without restrictions if they are fully vaccinated or test negative or if they come from an area with a low prevalence of Covid-19 cases.
However, under the revised Recommendation of 19 May, Member States may still impose restrictions on their own territory if they consider them necessary.
The current list, which will be adopted by written procedure, thus includes 27 countries: the United States, North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Lebanon, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Canada, Jordan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China, subject to reciprocity.
Equivalence of ‘certificates’ with third countries
In addition, the European Commission is in discussions with third countries to decide on the recognition of their Covid certificates. The European Commission is in bilateral contact with the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland to ensure that their Covid documents and applications are technically interoperable with the European system, which officially comes into force on 1 July. The European Commission has to issue equivalence decisions for these countries.
However, there is a different problem with third countries that vaccinate with Covishield, a vaccine not recognised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) but recognised by the WHO. Under the recommendation adopted by Member States for both third country nationals and intra-EU tourists, Member States may accept the certificate of a traveller vaccinated with a vaccine listed by the WHO, but this is not a requirement, which may create disparities between Member States.
The African Union expressed concern on 29 June for those Covishield vaccinated tourists wishing to travel to the EU, citing a “risk of discrimination”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)