London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Sep 19, 2025

Fully vaccinated travellers 'should be exempted from restrictions'

Fully vaccinated travellers 'should be exempted from restrictions'

The recommendation comes as the bloc prepares to roll out its first EU-wide travel pass. #BrusselsBureau

Travellers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have recovered from the disease should be completely exempted from any restrictions -- such as testing and quarantine -- when moving around the European Union, Brussels has said.

The recommendation comes as the bloc prepares to roll out its first EU-wide travel pass to facilitate cross-border movement during the pandemic.

The law for the travel pass foresees EU countries refraining from imposing travel restrictions on those holding one.

However, it opens the door for additional measures in case the health situation deteriorates or new variants are detected. It also leaves unanswered the question of what happens to those who have not obtained the pass but nevertheless intend to travel.

Mindful of potential fragmentation and uncertainty for travellers, the European Commission has put forward a recommendation for national governments.

If adopted by EU countries, the new rules will see fully vaccinated people -- having received the second dose in the last 14 days -- exempted from testing and quarantine requirements when travelling around the European Union. The same would apply to those who have recovered from the disease in the last 180 days.

It will be up to individual countries to decide if the rule applies to those who have been partially vaccinated. The vaccination and recovery certificates should be in line with the provisions of the EU Digital COVID Certificate, the official name for the travel pass.

Additionally, travellers with a valid COVID-19 test should not be subject to quarantine. The European Commission proposes two standardised validity periods: 72 hours for PCR tests and 48 hours for rapid antigen tests. Not every member state accepts antigen tests.

Children travelling with their parents should be exempted from quarantine when the parents are also relieved from the procedure, the European Commission added. Children under the age of six should not have to undergo testing.

From green to dark red areas


Brussels also wants further clarification and harmonisation regarding the colour scheme of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Travellers from green areas should be free from restrictions, while those from orange areas could still be asked to submit a pre-departure test. Those coming from red areas could be forced to quarantine unless they have a negative test before their departure.

"For the areas marked in orange, the proposal is to increase the threshold of 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate from 50 to 75. Similarly, for the red areas the proposal is to adjust the threshold range from current 50-150 to the new 75-150," the executive noted.

Travel from and to dark red areas, which are now very limited in the continent, will remain discouraged and restrictions will stay in place.

Brussels wants the new recommendation to be adopted by member states by mid-June. The rules would help create a common EU-wide framework for travel while inoculation expands and the EU Digital COVID Certificate is being progressively rolled out.


Throughout the health crisis, the executive has attempted, with little success, to harmonise the situation among member states to ensure coordination. Boosted by an increasing pace of vaccination and the reopening of the economies, the European Commission considers now is the time to update the guidelines.

"We now expect member states to make the best use of this instrument and the recommendation to allow everyone to move freely and safely again," said Didier Reynders, European commissioner for justice, on Monday afternoon.

Even if the recommendation is approved, national governments could still choose to ignore it and impose travel restrictions on those who have been vaccinated or recovered from the disease.

Only the EU Digital COVID Certificate, which is legally binding, will allow a citizen to be totally exempted from testing and quarantine requirements unless emergency measures are introduced.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×