With immediate effect, the so-called 3-G rule also applies to German holidaymakers returning to Germany from Austria, Italy, Slovenia or Croatia, for example, when entering Germany, i.e. travelers returning to Germany must either be vaccinated, recovered or tested and must already prove this directly at the border with Germany. A test after returning from vacation in Germany, as was previously common, is not required according to the new Einreiseverordnung is no longer permitted, when crossing the border, the relevant evidence must already be available. The regulation will apply from August 1, 2021 and will expire at the end of 2021.
Compulsory testing for all who are not vaccinated or recovered
In plain language, this means that vacationers who are currently still in Croatia, Slovenia, Italy or Austria, or who will be traveling back from the aforementioned countries in the future, must present a negative antigen test, no older than 48 hours, or a negative PCR test, no older than 72 hours, upon entry into Germany before returning to Germany. This does not apply to vaccinated holidaymakers, they have free travel, provided that the relevant deadlines have been demonstrably met. In general, it does not matter in which country the test was taken, so Croatian vacationers, for example, can also quickly take a test in Austria on the return trip. However, the test result must be available when crossing the border into Germany.
Digital entry registration not required
Digital travel registration is additionally required only for returnees from high-incidence areas and virus variant areas; Croatia, Italy, Slovenia and Austria are not currently included.
Valid for ages twelve and older
For those who would like to have it in black and white themselves in the new entry regulation: the testing requirement for persons who are neither vaccinated nor convalescent is regulated in § 5, which states, “Persons who have reached the age of twelve must have proof of testing, proof of convalescence or proof of vaccination when entering the Federal Republic of Germany.”
Risk area classification no longer applies
Another change thus comes into force in addition, but currently has no relevance for vacationers in the countries of Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and Austria: the term “risk area” according to classification RKI is omitted from the German point of view, it is now distinguished only by high incidence area and virus variant area. On the homepage of the Robert Koch Institute, this change has not yet been taken into account at present, but should be updated as soon as possible.
Keep infection numbers low
The purpose of this new regulation, which incidentally has been in effect for air travelers for some time and has now been extended to individual travelers, is, according to the German Federal Ministry of Health, “to contain the entry of additional infections and to keep infection numbers low in order to be able to further increase vaccination rates during this period.” The vaccination rate in Germany is currently over 50%.
Croatia travel remains problem-free
In general, vacationers about a stay in the classic countries bordering the Adriatic Sea do not yet have to worry about a significantly further tightening of the measures. The 7-day incidence is 26.7, for Italy 59.5 and Slovenia 26.2 (all data as of July 29, 2021), according to SeaHelp data, which makes detailed use of the official EU dataset on a daily basis.
