The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Operator Liability and Public Health Information to Travellers) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2021

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Public Health Information for Persons Travelling to Wales etc.) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/595 (W. 136)) (“the Public Health Information Regulations”) impose requirements on operators of international passenger services coming from outside the common travel area to an airport, heliport or seaport in Wales (“operators”), to provide passengers with specified public health information.

These Regulations amend the Public Health Information Regulations to update the information that operators are required to provide to passengers who arrive in Wales. The updated information that operators are required to provide includes information about the requirement under regulation 6B of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/574 (W. 132)) (“the International Travel Regulations”), to arrange post arrival testing (Regulation 2).

These Regulations also amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel, Pre-Departure Testing and Operator Liability) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/48 (W. 11)) (“the Operator Liability Regulations”) in consequence of amendments made to the International Travel Regulations on 15 February 2021.

Regulation 3 amends the Operator Liability Regulations so as to—

(a) require operators to ensure that passengers who arrive in Wales from outside the common travel area on international passenger services have made arrangements for post arrival testing in accordance with regulation 6B of the International Travel Regulations;

(b) require persons operating transport services (which includes flights by means of private aircraft) for passengers travelling to Wales from outside the common travel area, to take reasonable steps to ensure that passengers who have been in a country or territory listed in Schedule 3A to the International Travel Regulations (commonly referred to as the red list countries) do not arrive into a port in Wales, unless they are persons to whom regulation 12E(2) and (3) of those Regulations applies (i.e. exempted persons);

(c) create offences for the breach of those requirements; and

(d) make 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