The European Council’s recommendations on gradually lifting restrictions on non-essential travel to the EU started to take effect 1 July for listed countries.

The council recommended that member states start lifting the travel restrictions at the external borders for residents from Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay and China (subject to confirmation of reciprocity.)

Residents of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican are considered as EU residents for the purpose of the EU recommendation.

With reference to the epidemiological situation, third countries listed should meet the following criteria.

Number of new Covid-19 cases over the last 14 days and per 100 000 inhabitants close to or below the EU average (as it stood on 15 June 2020).

A stable or decreasing trend of new cases over the current period when compared to the previous 14 days.

The overall response to Covid-19 takes into account available information on testing, contact tracing, containment and treatment, as well as the reliability of the information. Reciprocity should also be taken into account regularly and on a case-by-case basis.

For countries where travel restrictions continue to apply, the following categories of people should be exempted from the restrictions:

EU citizens and their family members;
long-term EU residents and their family members;
travellers with an essential function or need, as listed in the recommendation.

Schengen associated countries (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Switzerland) also take part in this recommendation. The list of third countries is reviewed every two weeks and updated by the European Council.