The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Operator Liability) (England) (Amendment) (No. 17) Regulations 2021

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Operator Liability) (England) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/582) (“the International Travel Regulations”).

Regulation 3 amends regulation 2(3) of the International Travel Regulations to update the circumstances in which those arriving in a country or territory on an aircraft are not to be treated as having departed from, or transited through, that country or territory.

Regulation 4 amends regulation 3 of the International Travel Regulation to exempt the following persons from the requirement to complete a Passenger Locator Form when they have travelled to the United Kingdom in the course of their work (whether or not they have been in a red-list country prior to their arrival or they have travelled in a passenger carrying conveyance): bus and coach drivers, seafarers, port workers, maritime pilots, inspectors and surveyors of ships, air crew, hauliers, haulier outreach workers, international rail crew, and passengers transiting airside through England.

Part 1B of the International Travel Regulations is amended:

(a) to expand the definition of “authorised vaccine” by removing the requirement that it be administered in a relevant country (regulation 5);

(b) to require persons vaccinated against coronavirus in Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man or any of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories, and their dependents, to satisfy the conditions in regulation 3C (vaccination conditions), rather than regulation 3H (UK vaccine rollout overseas conditions) (regulations 5 and 9);

(c) to expand the categories of “eligible traveller” to include individuals who are participating, or have participated, in phase 2 or 3 of certain clinical trials taking place otherwise than in the United Kingdom or the United States of America (regulation 7);

(d) to change the evidence that a person must provide to demonstrate that there are clinical reasons why they should not be vaccinated against coronavirus (regulation 8).

Regulation 12 amends Schedule 3 (Category 3 countries and territories) to the International Travel Regulations so that there are no countries or territories listed in category 3.

Regulation 13 amends Schedule 4 (exemptions) to the International Travel Regulations. It introduces a new exemption from testing and self-isolation requirements for pork butchers. Regulations 10 and 11 make amendments in consequence of this change. Regulation 13 also corrects errors made by the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Operator Liability) (England) (Amendment) (No. 10) Regulations 2021.

Regulation 14 adds the FIBA European Basketball Competitions to the list of sporting events in Schedule 5 to the International Travel Regulations.

Regulation 15 amends Schedule 11 (additional measures applicable to arrivals from category 3 countries and territories) to the International Travel Regulations to remove Newcastle International Airport from the list of ports at which passengers from red-list countries may arrive.

Regulation 16 amends Schedule 13 (category 3 countries or territories: airport operators to ensure passengers used designated terminals) to the International Travel Regulations. It removes the entry for the Dominican Republic from paragraph 4 of that Schedule. In addition, paragraph 7 of that Schedule is amended to enable airport operators to use designated terminals, or designated parts of terminals, for the arrival of passengers from countries or territories which are not red-list countries or territories, at times when there are no passengers from red-list countries passing through those terminals.

These Regulations also make various other minor consequential amendments to the International Travel Regulations.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument. An explanatory memorandum has been published alongside this instrument at www.legislation.gov.uk.