Chinese people arriving at Schiphol are not obliged to have themselves tested for corona. There are stricter rules in Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom. But they cannot simply be copied in the Netherlands.
Now that the number of covid infections in China is rising rapidly, more and more European countries are taking measures. Anyone flying from Beijing to London or Paris next week must be able to show a negative test before boarding. All travelers from China are required to take a corona test at Rome-Fiumicino airport. And Chinese who fly to Madrid or Barcelona unvaccinated or without a negative test must first go through the test street on arrival.
How different it is at Schiphol: passengers from China will be offered a self-test from next Thursday. So voluntarily. According to Minister Ernst Kuipers (Public Health, D66), there is currently ‘no reason to institute acute travel restriction measures’.
With this, Kuipers says he is following the line of the European Health Security Committee, which met last week. The outcome of this consultation was that there will be no European restriction policy for travelers from China for the time being. Available data does not mean that intervention is necessary yet, was the conclusion. Moreover, more immunity has been built up in Europe.
No legal basis
The Netherlands believes that any measures will only be effective if they apply in all EU member states. But Italy, Spain and France don’t care much about that.
In addition, the Netherlands alone cannot impose any obligations on Chinese travellers. “If we decide on our own to make testing mandatory, there is currently no legal basis for this,” says the spokesperson for Minister Kuipers. Although an amendment to the law is being prepared, it has not yet been adopted by the Senate.
Kuipers has called on the Senate to deal with the law quickly. But just like the House of Representatives, the Senate is still in recess until January 16. Until then, the cabinet cannot impose mandatory tests anyway. Unless there is still an EU-wide measure: then the legal basis is there.
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