EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/574 (W. 132)) (the “International Travel Regulations”) and 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”).
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 those 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 3 of these Regulations amends Schedule 3 to the International Travel Regulations to add the following to the list of exempt countries and territories outside the common travel area: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Balearic Islands, Barbados, Bermuda, Antarctica/British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Madeira, Malta, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, and Turks and Caicos Islands.
Non-exempt persons are prohibited from entering Wales where they have been in a country or territory listed in Schedule 3A to the International Travel Regulations within the last 10 days of arrival, pursuant to regulation 12E of the International Travel Regulations. Regulation 4 of these Regulations amends Schedule 3A to add Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Haiti, Mongolia, Tunisia and Uganda to the list of countries and territories subject to additional measures.
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 to provide passengers with specified public health information. Regulation 5 amends the content of the on-board public health information announcement operators are required to provide to passengers arriving into Wales on relevant services.
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 costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations.
Regulations revoked (18.3.2022 at 4.00 a.m.) by The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel, Operator Liability and Public Health Information to Travellers etc.) (Wales) (Revocation) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/315), reg. 1(2), Sch. para. 42