New Regulations for people entering Germany

Germany (14 January 2021)

For persons entering Germany from countries considered a risk in the COVID-19 context, the new regulation “Coronavirus-Enreiseverordnung” (dated 13.01.2021, in force as of 14.01.2021) is stipulating requirements for electronic pre-registering and mandatory testing. These new provisions are valid on a federal level. They are replacing previous provisions that were issued on a regional level (Bundesländer). (However, provisions on mandatory self-isolation will continue to be governed on the regional level (Bundesländer)).

For general provisions of the new regulation (applicable to non-drivers), we are attaching a leaflet elaborated by the Federal Ministry of Health.

However, there are special provisions / partial exemptions for “persons that are performing, in a professional context, border-crossing transports of persons or goods by road, rail, ship or air while applying adequate safety and hygiene concepts” which we shall describe below.

The new regulation is discerning three different levels of risk:

- Risk areas

- High incidence areas(“Hochinzidenzgebiete” = areas with a particularly high incidence rate)

- Areas of variant of concern(“Virusvarianten-Gebiete” = areas with widespread occurrence of virus variants that are not yet common in Germany)

For drivers subject to the a.m. special provisions (“persons that are performing, in a professional context, border-crossing transports of persons or goods by road, rail, ship or air while applying adequate safety and hygiene concepts”), provisions are as follows:

-  Drivers that have been in a “risk area”during the last 10 days prior to entry into German territory:

Pre-registration: None
Negative COVID-19 test: None

-  Drivers that have been in a “High incidence area” during the last 10 days prior to entry into German territory:
Pre-registration: Mandatory – Please register under https://www.einreiseanmeldung.debefore entry. The digital form is available in many languages.
Negative COVID-19 test: No mandatory test for stays up to 72 h. For stays of more than 72 h, a mandatory COVID-19 test must be performed priorto entry, to be shown upon request of a responsible authority. Test may be max. 48 h old upon entry.

- Drivers that have been in an “area of variant of concern” during the last 10 days prior to entry into German territory:
Pre-registration: Mandatory – please register under https://www.einreiseanmeldung.debefore entry.
Negative COVID-19 test: Mandatory, no exemptions. COVID-19 test must be performed prior to entry, to be shown upon request of a responsible authority. Test may be max. 48 h old upon entry.

Up-to date information on the classification of countries as “risk areas”, “high incidence areas” or “areas of variant of concern” may be found under the link https://www.rki.de/risikogebiete. (German/English version).

Persons travelling in transit through Germany are exempted from pre-registration in case they come from risk areas or high incidence areas, under the condition that they must leave Germany again ASAP. They must however pre-register if they come from an area of variant of concern.

They are exempted from testing in all three cases.

Persons that have only transited a risk area without any stops or sojourns:

Persons that have only transited a relevant area without any stops or sojourns are exempted pre-registration in case they come from risk areas or high incidence areas. They must however pre-register if they come from an area of variant of concern.
These persons are also exempted from testing is all three cases.

 Source: BGL