The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Restrictions) (Amendment) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2020

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make amendments to the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/574 (W. 132)) (the “International Travel Regulations”) and the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 4) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1219 (W. 276)) (the “No. 4 Regulations”). They also make a consequential amendment to the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Restrictions) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1237 (W. 279)).

The International Travel Regulations impose requirements on persons entering Wales after having been abroad. They include a requirement for persons arriving in Wales to isolate for a period determined in accordance with the Regulations. The requirements imposed by the International Travel Regulations are subject to exceptions, and certain categories of person are exempt from having to comply. Persons entering Wales after being in one or more of the countries and territories listed in Schedule 3 to the International Travel Regulations are not required to isolate. The countries and territories listed in Schedule 3 are referred to as “exempt countries and territories”.

Regulation 2 amends the International Travel Regulations to—

(a) permit a person who is required to isolate under regulation 12A as a result of having been in Denmark, or being in the same household as a person who has been in Denmark, to leave the place where they are isolating in order to leave Wales;

(b) insert a new regulation 12B into those Regulations prohibiting any aircraft or ship coming directly from Denmark from arriving in Wales except for safety reasons;

(c) add Bahrain, Cambodia, Chile, Iceland, Laos, Qatar, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the United Arab Emirates to the list of exempt countries and territories;

(d) remove the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in the Island of Cyprus and all of Greece, other than the islands of Corfu, Crete, Kos, Rhodes and Zakynthos, from the list of exempt countries and territories;

(e) make other minor and consequential amendments.

Regulation 3 provides that new Regulation 12B of the International Travel Regulations does not apply where an aircraft or ship’s journey began before Regulation 12B came into force.

Regulations 4 and 5 of these Regulations make transitional provision relating to the countries and territories whose status has changed. The transitional provisions address a potential area of doubt in terms of the effect on the operation of the International Travel Regulations, of the amendments made by regulation 2(5) to (8) of these Regulations.

Regulation 6 amends the No. 4 Regulations to—

(a) provide that a person required not to leave the place where they are living under regulation 18A of the No. 4 Regulations (provision relating to persons who have recently been in Denmark) may leave that place in order to leave Wales;

(b) make other minor and consequential amendments.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has not been prepared as to the likely cost and benefit of complying with these Regulations.