A real risk indeed

When you see that people were unjustifiably fined in April because they were biking to work, anything can happen...

Décret 2020-1310 du 29 octobre 2020, article 24 :
I. - Une mesure de mise en quarantaine ou de placement et maintien en isolement ne peut être prescrite à l'entrée sur le territoire hexagonal ou à l'arrivée en Corse ou dans l'une des collectivités mentionnées à l'article 72-3 de la Constitution que pour les personnes ayant séjourné, au cours du mois précédant cette entrée ou cette arrivée, dans une zone de circulation de l'infection définie par arrêté du ministre chargé de la santé mentionné au II de l'article L. 3131-15 du code de la santé publique.
II. - Dans les conditions prévues aux articles L. 3131-17 et R. 3131-19 à R. 3131-25 du code de la santé publique, le préfet territorialement compétent :
1° Prescrit la mise en quarantaine ou le placement et le maintien en isolement, lorsqu'elles arrivent sur du territoire national depuis l'étranger des personnes présentant des symptômes d'infection au covid-19 ;
2° Est habilité à prescrire la mise en quarantaine ou le placement et le maintien en isolement :
a) Des personnes ne pouvant justifier, à leur arrivée, du résultat d'un test ou d'un examen biologique de dépistage virologique réalisé moins de 72 heures avant le vol ne concluant pas à une contamination par le covid-19 ;
b) Des personnes arrivant sur le territoire d'une collectivité mentionnée à l'article 72-3 de la Constitution en provenance du reste du territoire national.

So what is written here (which might be more restrictive than reality... for now) :
- The country the passenger comes from does not matter.
- Anyone flying into France without a PCR test may be requested to quarantine.

That. Contradicting or at least ambiguous information from the French authorities (surprise surprise...).

Because what you state there contradicts or at least is ambiguous about what it says on the site of the French Foreign ministry: https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/le...vos-questions/

The way I understand it, it states that every traveler might be requested by the local Préfet de police to be quarantined.
It would mean that local restrictions, depending on your port of entry, might be enforced. The question is, of course: has any local authority taken such measures? Or is it just a provision to give local authorities more wiggle room?

The key part in Nico40's post is "dans une zone de circulation de l'infection définie par arrêté du ministre chargé de la santé".
This is referring to the list of countries we already know for the obligation to have a test before departure or on arrival. EU/UK is exempted from this, unless of course they want to change this list. Please, don't bring the fact that several EU member states have much more cases than some red list third countries*. This is another debate . The government may change this list and eventually include EU member states, but at the moment there is no change AFAIK.

* the statement below you can find on many official websites is, today, laughable (here, from ADP site):

I am also getting quite confused.
There are two different issues. The first one is about tests and quarantines. This is discussed above.

The second one is who is allowed to enter France.
It used to be that people from a list of ten countries (Australia, Japan, etc...) were allowed to enter even if they were not French nationals. Apparently that list has disappeared. Maybe it is just that websites have not been updated yet.
Anyone in the know?

Of course, any foreigner arriving from EU+ is still allowed in with proper travel documents.

About entry, Reopen EU has been updated yesterday (see https://reopen.europa.eu/fr/map/FRA/7002 ). They still state that "Tavellers from l’Australie, canada, Géorgie, Japon, Maroc, Nouvelle-Zélande, Rwanda, Corée du Sud, Thaïlande, Tunisie, Uruguay can enter without restrictions".

My turn to be confused about a technicality. When it comes to mandatory tests, all official documents refer to "travellers coming from EU+ countries".
Does it mean that if I book a dispatch ticket CDG->AMS->CDG, then on another booking an AMS->MEX->AMS, I would be allowed to enter France without a test given that I will enter France from the Netherlands?
There is no mention of a form that would sum up past travels for the past XX days... which seems strange and illogical, but would not be a first.

Previously, you were able to do MEX-AMS-CDG on the same ticket without being tested. You don't even have to do the effort to buy the "risk country" itinerary on another ticket to exploit this loophole.

Did GIG-AMS-CDG and MEX-AMS-CDG in septembre, wasn't tested. Was asked by the french border force where I was coming from, said Mexico City the second time, no test, and no more questions asked
`
They test only direct arrival from "risk countries", when the french airport is your final destination. Even if you do MEX-CDG-MAD you wont be tested.

And the most stupid thing that I think I saw last time (to be verified), is that you are not tested if transiting to a third airport in France. For instance GRU-CDG-NCE you won't be tested.

That's how it was last months. What more can you expect from this government when you have such stupid measures ? Germany mandatory testing and quarantine from high risk country (France being included in the list of course), is, once again, way more efficient and coherent.

Thanks for the feedback.
That's impressive. We are way beyond "illogical" here...

This:

3. Si vous arrivez d’un autre pays :

En vertu du décret du 29 octobre 2020, les personnes de onze ans ou plus arrivant sur le territoire métropolitain par transport maritime ou aérien depuis l’ensemble des pays du monde à l’exception des Etats membres de l’Union européenne et du Bahreïn, des Emirats arabes unis, des Etats-Unis et du Panama qui ne peuvent présenter le résultat d’un test ou d’un examen biologique de dépistage virologique réalisé moins de 72 heures avant le départ ne concluant pas à une contamination par la COVID-19 sont dirigées à leur arrivée vers un poste de contrôle sanitaire permettant la réalisation d’un tel examen.

Isn't consistent with this:

Depuis le 30 octobre 2020, toute personne arrivant en France en provenance d’un pays extérieur à l’espace européen doit présenter un examen biologique de dépistage virologique réalisé moins de 72 heures avant le vol ne concluant pas à une contamination par la Covid-19.

You really think this means rapid tests will be accepted? Perhaps I am misunderstanding.

While the list of countries is indeed different between your two quotes, neither text state that the test must be a RT-PCR.
They don't explicitly state that rapid tests are allowed but don't shut off this possibility either. In France, antigen tests have been allowed in some specific cases by decision of the HAS on September 25th. Not sure if this applies to travels, I could not find the information so far. If the decision has been made (and honestly I'm not sure that's the case), it's not public AFAIK.

It's kind of a mess if you ask me. All this investment for quick antigen tests that nobody (apparently) currently accepts? I don't get it.

The trend seems to be to accept the antigen tests more and more. Italy has been accepting them for a long time now (since Aug 15 IIRC).
I have to say if every airport were to offer $10 antigen tests on arrival and departure, the cost on international travel would be negligible and I'd gladly get swabbed twice just for the peace of mind.

If this could allow borders to re-open safely and various governments to save face at the same time, that's a win too.

Welcome to France. Form over function. Grandes paroles, symbolic measures, presented with pomp, expecting that everybody is awed by the decorum and the mentioning of the word "République" every three sentences. But they can't get it to work. They announce a shutdown but cannot deliver the rules of the game. They publish decrees and laws, but many are ambiguous or contradicting each other. The people supposed to check and enforce aren't really clear about how things work.

Not sure whether the Germans will be better to bring down the numbers faster. And the bickering between the regional chiefs over months and their little world solutions is ridiculous. Still, now that there is a consensus and shared solution, the somewhat more moderate measures with a no fun and disciplined application with care for the details may have more impact that the big drama in France.

Sorry, off topic.

MOAR CONFUSION!! This time from transport secretary Djebbari on Twitter

Et pour les déplacements professionnels hors espace Schengen : même chose + test obligatoire. Je salue l’
@AeroportNice
qui a déployé des tests rapides aujourd’hui.


So you need a test to board a plane out of Schengen?