The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel from China) (England) Regulations 2023

Requirement to possess notification of a negative result from a pre-departure test

3.—(1) A person to whom this Part applies (“ P”) must, when they arrive in England, possess valid notification of a negative result from—

(a) where P is an adult—

(i) a pre-departure test undertaken by them;

(ii) who is accompanying a child aged 12 or over for whom they have responsibility, a pre-departure test undertaken by that child;

(b) where P is a child aged 12 or over who is unaccompanied by an adult with responsibility for them, a pre-departure test undertaken by them,

unless P has a reasonable excuse.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1), reasonable excuses for not possessing valid notification of a negative test result in relation to a person (“M”) include, in particular, where—

(a) M was medically unfit to provide a sample for a pre-departure test and possessed a document, in English or accompanied by a certified English translation, signed by a medical practitioner entitled to practise the country or territory in which that practitioner was based, to that effect;

(b) it was not reasonably practicable for a pre-departure test to be obtained in relation to M due to a disability;

(c) M required medical treatment with such urgency that obtaining a pre-departure test was not reasonably practicable;

(d) M contracted coronavirus and required emergency medical treatment;

(e) P was accompanying, in order to provide support, whether medical or otherwise, a person described in sub-paragraph (c) or (d) where it was not reasonably practicable for P to obtain a pre-departure test.

(3) A person who possesses valid notification of a negative result from a pre-departure test must produce that notification if requested to do so by an immigration officer.

(4) In this regulation—

“child” means a person under the age of 18;

“immigration officer” means—

(a)

a person appointed by the Secretary of State as an immigration officer under paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the Immigration Act 1971(1);

(b)

a person appointed by the Secretary of State to perform the functions of an immigration officer under these Regulations;

“pre-departure test” means a test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 that complies with regulation 4;

“valid notification of a negative result” means a notification that includes the information specified in regulation 5.

(1)

Paragraph 1 was amended by paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to the Health Protection Agency Act 2004 (c. 17), and by S.I. 1993/1813. There are other amendments not relevant to this instrument.