If Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder has his way, the tougher entry rules should apply from August 1st. The federal government does not want to take the topic with it into the planned Prime Minister’s Conference until August 10th. At the appointment, the federal and state governments want to advise on the current corona development in Germany.
Stricter entry rules would particularly affect the unvaccinated and children from 6 years. You would then always have to submit a negative rapid antigen test or PCR test, no matter which holiday country you come from. Vaccinated and convalescents should continue to show their evidence. What is new is that this should also apply to safer holiday countries.
Until now, the obligation to test and provide evidence generally only applied to the flight route and only to countries with a high incidence. When unvaccinated people go on vacation to Spain, for example, they have been in quarantine for a few days. However, if they enter via the highways of Spain and France, they can bypass the quarantine, as they are actually not really registered or controlled anywhere.
On request, the Federal Ministry of Health strictly declares: “Those who have stayed in a risk area, high-incidence or virus variant area are obliged to complete the digital entry registration (DEA) before entering the Federal Republic of Germany.”
Who checks whether travelers come from high incidence areas by car?
The fact is, however, that no one checks whether travelers have really registered on the train or in the car.
- Example: Maike travels from Amsterdam to Berlin. According to the Federal Foreign Office, the Netherlands is a high incidence area. If Maike were not vaccinated, she would have to be in quarantine for at least five days. On the flight route, the employees check their receipts, requesting their test certificate and the digital immigration form, for example.
But what about when Maike enters Germany by car? There are no controls at the border crossings between the Netherlands and Germany. This is also confirmed by the Federal Police on request and also emphasized by the ADAC.
Germany is not an isolated case. There are also hardly any controls between Spain and Portugal, Austria and Italy or Greece and North Macedonia. Rather, officials ask in individual cases whether the travelers have their proof with them. If you nod, you can go on.
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Border controls from August 1st?
Apparently, the federal government wants to close precisely these gaps. Travelers who have been in high-incidence or risk areas should then submit their evidence for the test, regardless of whether they are traveling back by car, train or plane.
It is still unclear how exactly the federal government intends to control the obligation to test and provide evidence. Direct border controls would lead to longer waiting times and are rejected by the economy. In extreme cases, products and goods could arrive in Germany with longer delays because logistics companies are stuck at the borders.
The solution could be the digital entry registration. This has so far been used successfully in several countries. Travelers not only have to be able to identify themselves at any time during their trip, they also have to show the digital form.
In Croatia and Greece, for example, random road checks are carried out on motorway entrances near airports or harbors. Similarly, controls could also be expanded in Germany.
Compulsory testing from all countries – regardless of whether it is a risk or not
Germany also wants to tighten entry for travelers from “green zones”. So far, they have been spared the detection and test measures. For example, those who enter or leave Germany from Belgium generally do not need any proof and, as an unvaccinated person, do not have to carry out a test. Vacationers can travel without restrictions. The reason is that the incidence is low in both countries.
What will change for the quarantine regulation?
It is unclear whether the quarantine obligation could also be tightened.
So far, if unvaccinated people come from a high incidence area, they have to adhere to a five-day isolation for the rapid antigen test and on arrival in Germany. It is unlikely that this quarantine regulation will be extended to “simple risk areas”. There is currently no approval from the European Union for this.