The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (2021 Consolidation) (Amendment No. 8) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021

Made: 30th October 2021

Coming into operation in accordance with regulations 1(2) and (3)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amendment of principal Regulations

2

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amendment of regulation 2 (Interpretation)

3

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amendment of regulation 3 (Interpretation: red list and non-red list countries and arrivals)

4

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amendment of Schedule 1 (Red list countries)

5

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amendment of Schedule 2B (Criteria to be an eligible arrival)

6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Persons who are exempt

7

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amendment of Schedule 6

8

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Signed

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Health on 30th October 2021

Dr Lourda Geoghegan — A senior officer of the Department of Health

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021 (“the principal Regulations”).

Regulation 3. These amendments introduce lateral flow device (LFD) test for the detection of Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) as an alternative to existing requirements on arrivals deemed to be “eligible travellers” to undertake day 2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. The amendments provide for the use of LFD tests and the consequences of the results of such tests.

Regulation 4 amends regulation 3(3) to update the circumstances in which those arriving in a country or territory on an aircraft or vessel are not to be treated as having departed from, or transited through, that country or territory without first passing through immigration control.

Regulation 5 removes “Colombia”, “Dominican Republic”, “Ecuador”, “Haiti”, “Panama”, “Peru” and “Venezuela” from the red list of countries.

Regulation 6-

(a) extends the criteria for an “eligible arrival” to include participants in phase 2 or phase 3 clinical trials for a Coronavirus vaccine which is regulated by the European Medicines Agency or a regulatory authority (other than such an authority in the UK or USA) which is designated as a Stringent Regulatory Authority by the World Health Organisation;

(b) extends the circumstances in which a person is deemed to have completed a course of doses of an authorised vaccine. and

(c) adds the following 35 new countries Argentina; Angola; Azerbaijan; Belize; Botswana; Costa Rica; Djibouti, Eswatini; Guyana; Honduras; Lesotho; Mauritius; Mongolia; Nepal; Panama; Peru; Rwanda; Seychelles; Suriname; Tanzania; Trinidad and Tobago; Tunisia; Uganda; Uruguay; Anguilla; Armenia; Bermuda; Cambodia; Cayman Islands; Gibraltar; Lebanon; Madagascar; Occupied Palestinian Territories; Sierra Leone; Sri Lanka, to paragraph 12 of Schedule 2B (Criteria to be an eligible arrival).

Regulation 7 amends the circumstances relating to mandatory testing after arrival in Northern Ireland.

Regulation 8 amends Schedule 4 to the principal Regulations to remove the “no access to passengers” condition from the exemption from the requirement to provide information (regulation 4) for “Seamen and masters”, “Pilots (maritime)”, “Ship inspectors”, and “Air crew”; and to introduce an exemption from the requirement to provide information (regulation 4) for “Transit passenger” and “Road haulage worker”.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 2016 c. 5 (N.I.), s. 1(5).

[^f00002]: 1967 c. 36 (N.I.).

[^f00003]: S.R. 2021 No. 99 as amended by S.R. 2021 Nos. 108, 121, 132, 154, 189, 213, 214, 218, 225, 230, 241, 262, 278, 282 and 284.

[^f00004]: S.I. 2002/618.

[^f00005]: The current list national regulators designated as Stringent Regulatory Authorities is available here:https://www.who.int/initiatives/who-listed-authority-reg-authorities/SRAs.

Editorial notes