Following a recommendation by the European Union Council to the Member States and Schengen Associated Countries to reopen borders on July 1, the Swiss Federal Council decided to maintain the current entry ban for third-country citizens until July 20.
However, the Swiss authorities have agreed to comply with the EU Council’s decision to reopen the borders to those countries identified as ‘safe,’ leaving only Serbia, on the assessment that the latter does not meet the requirements for their citizens to be able to enter Switzerland.
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On July 20, the Federal Department of Justice and Police FDJP plans to withdraw from the list of high-risk countries Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay and EU states outside the Schengen region (Bulgaria, Ireland, Croatia, Romania and Cyprus),’ read a Federal Council press release.
It also states that, according to EU guidelines, China is likely to be removed from the list too, since it does not require travellers from Switzerland to access its territory.
The decision to postpone the reopening of borders for third-country citizens was made mainly due to the view of the increasing volume of people travelling in Switzerland and the rising number of new infections since mid-June.
On June 30, the EU Council approved the reopening of borders to third-country citizens on July 1 to the Member States and Schengen related nations. The list will be revised every month, which isn’t legally binding.
Although most EU and Schengen countries have not yet announced their lists of countries from which residents may access their territory, some of them have published narrow-down records.
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For example, Spain has excluded China and Morocco, while the Czech Republic has agreed to grant the residents of eight out of the 15 countries recommended by the EU Council with permitted entry.
Switzerland to Quarantine Travellers from Certain Areas
The Swiss Federal Council also agreed at the same meeting that travellers from other regions entering Switzerland would have to go into quarantine for ten days beginning on June 6.