bostontraveler

EU tells six countries to lift Covid border restrictions

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...r-restrictions

Yet no comment on the draconian ex-EU travel restrictions in France..........

mlin32

The EU doesn't care about restrictions on leaving the bloc, just restrictions within the bloc.

In France there's nothing stopping you from departing or entering to/from Espagne or Italy, etc... Indeed the bordering régions of the Grand Est have been begging the Sarre, RP, and Bade-Wurttemburg to keep borders open on the German side.

Solevita

Apparently there's handfuls of folks coming from CDG to GOT with a test done in CDG getting trapped in no-mans-land when arriving since their tests have some French on them, despite clearly stating negative in English, where English is accepted for the tests (after a year of happily (fine by me) keeping the borders mostly open, Sweden suddenly decided to require tests from everywhere since a few weeks back). Border police don't even accept someone from the French consulate coming to offer to translate the French parts. Best part for those trapped is there's not even a daily flight to deport them back to CDG anymore. Some have managed to get permission to fly back via AMS without the necessary tests...

From https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/...y-into-sweden/

I suppose "Time the test was conducted" if in French could be mistaken for time the result was produced, but then the test has to be less than 48 hours old, so the result can only be later.

Anybody any ideas of how bad the Frenchness of the CDG certificates are that make then not sufficiently English?

matmatlr

Europe at its best...

Once again, it shows how big is the difference between rules & real life
My past (real) experiences since beginning of the year

BOD - AMS : No test asked neither on departure nor on arrival
MEX - CDG : No test asked neither on departure nor on arrival
CDG - BCN : No test asked neither on departure nor on arrival
MUC - CDG : Test asked on both departure & arrival
CDG - MUC : No test asked neither on departure nor on arrival
GRU - CDG : Test asked on arrival - no additional questions asked
CDG - GIG : Test asked on departure - no additional questions asked
AMS - MUC : No test asked neither on departure nor on arrival

bostontraveler

Of course, except the fact that a) the restrictions shouldn't exist and b) they could be imposed at any minute returning to Spain or Italy....

bostontraveler

Recently my lab in Paris asks if I want the results in English as well and I know other labs are doing the same thing.

Rejecting a test because it says "conducted" is petty.

But until there is a uniform code to verify validity... there will be these kinds of problems.

Goldorak

Clearly an abuse of power by the Swedish guys who checked the test. Unacceptable

brunos

Most non-EU (and even EU) countries require that the test results be in the local language or English. It must clearly state the time/day when the test was taken.
The language requirement by Sweden has been known for a few weeks.
The pax has always been responsible for checking that he has the proper travel documents to enter a country (passport, visa, etc..). Now a proper test document, as requesting by the country, is part of those travel documents. It is often the case that enforcement is lax, but one should not bet on this laxity.

As usual, there might be more to the story,
It is not hard for a lab to include a brief English translation for the major terms in their reports, such as date/time when the test was conducted, type of test. Luckily "Positif" or "Négatif" are usually accepted for "Positive" or "Negative".

Also be aware that there have been many proven fakes around the world. Not long ago, forgery rings were found in France (CDG), UK and Spain. There are still investigations going on in Europe as many fakes have been detected/suspected.
https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/03/...s-and-stations

San Gottardo

Sorry for being slow: so you are saying that the results of tests performed at CDG are issued only in French?

kubrick

If I understand correctly, the result is in French, with a few exceptions, including the word "negative" or "positive" in English.

San Gottardo

Unbelievable.

NickB

Laxity is one thing but unjustified bureaucratic pettiness is another and, if we are talking about movement between EU Member States, the latter is normally regarded as an unlawful obstacle to free movement. For instance, even if you are normally required to have a valid passport to travel, the authorities of an EU Member State could not lawfully deny entry merely on the ground of not having a valid passport if you can prove that you are an EU national by other means (eg: an expired passport, perhaps?). Now, if it is the case that the test certificate is genuinely unclear, then fair enough but if it is clear and the immigration or public health officer denies entry merely on the ground that the document is not in the right language even if it is clear what the document says and the officer is just being petty, this would be unlawful. We are not talking of certificates written in Hangul or Ge'ez script here. One would expect common sense and reasonableness and proportionality to apply to the language requirement here.
Indeed and I would not be surprised if the issue lied elsewhere and that this was seized upon to make a more juicy story.

Solevita

They (the local Göteborgs Posten) originally reported the first stranded case a few weeks ago of a woman having a test 2 days old (but > 48 hours) whilst the requirement is 48 hours. They were refused entry and stuck as the next AF flight was 2 or 3 days away. Not sure why they couldn't have book LH back since no testing requirements there? But in the end they managed to get some exception to transit via AMS without a new test. That was certainly a case of not reading the rules properly.

Yesterday they had a new article with more people, only from CDG, stuck in the 'non-Schengen' zone before passport control (you know, Schengen and all). The article's behind a paywall otherwise I'd post it here. Here's a translation of one guy's account though....

Maybe Zoom would have been easier? (Other VideoCon facilities are available)

JorgeGomez

I am planing a trip from AMS to CUN. Best offer with miles I got via CDG. I have a german passport and live in Germany I will not go back via CDG. If I understood the past information I cannot do this trip because I need an important reason to leave CDG to CUN? Is this right?
I really cannot believe that the french government can refuse a german passport holder to leave the European Union...

Goldorak

You won't have troubles as a non-French person.