The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 5) (Wales) (Amendment) (No. 7) Regulations 2021

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Part 2A of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 enables the Welsh Ministers, by regulations, to make provision for the purpose of preventing, protecting against, controlling or providing a public health response to the incidence or spread of infection or contamination in Wales.

These Regulations are made in response to the serious and imminent threat to public health which is posed by the incidence and spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wales.

These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 5) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1609 (W. 335)) (“the principal Regulations”).

The amendments provide that the restrictions and requirements set out in Schedule 3A to the principal Regulations will continue to apply to the whole of Wales until the end of the day on 25 April 2021. The Regulations also amend the Schedule 3A restrictions and requirements to—

(a) remove the prohibition on gathering for the purposes of persuading or dissuading a person to vote in a particular manner in an election (canvassing);

(b) enable all retail premises to re-open;

(c) allow all close contact personal services to open their premises, allow such services to be provided in private dwellings, and allow spas and indoor sports and fitness facilities to open for the purposes of providing such services (only);

(d) allow wedding venues to open for the purposes of enabling a person to visit the venue, by appointment, with a view to booking it in relation to the solemnisation of a marriage, formation of civil partnership or alternative wedding ceremony, or for the celebration of such an event;

(e) allow crematoriums to fully open (and an equivalent change is made to Schedule 4 so that crematoriums won’t be required to close under Alert Level 4 either).

The Regulations also remove the current travel restrictions across all Alert Levels and amend the principal Regulations to impose restrictions and requirements relating to international travel that apply to all Alert Levels. They—

(a) provide that no person may depart Wales to a destination outside the common travel area (the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland) without a reasonable excuse;

(b) provide that any person who is at an embarkation point (for example, an airport) for the purposes of leaving the common travel area must provide a completed international travel declaration form to an enforcement officer on request.

The Regulations also amend the principal Regulations to require a person responsible for carrying out or facilitating activity undertaken for the purposes of persuading or dissuading a person to vote in a particular manner in an election (for example, canvassing) to take all reasonable measures to minimise the risk of exposure to, and the spread of, coronavirus at the activity. The person responsible must also have regard to any guidance issued by the Welsh Ministers about the reasonable measures. The Regulations also make minor and consequential amendments, including to provide for the enforcement of the new provisions on international travel.

In consequence of the amendments relating to international travel, these Regulations also amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Public Health Information for Persons Travelling to Wales etc.) Regulations 2020 to impose a requirement on the operators of commercial transport services departing from Wales to a destination outside the common travel area. Such operators will be required to provide information to passengers about the restriction on leaving Wales for a destination outside the common travel area and the requirement to complete an international travel declaration form. This information is to be provided at the time of booking and at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled departure.

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.