Obviously the Austrian government has finally answered the prayers of boat and yacht owners and real estate owners: From Saturday, October 17th, the level 6 travel warning due to the coronavirus will be replaced by a partial level 4 travel warning for some Croatian coastal regions. That applies to holiday-makers, in particular also water sportsmen, who travel into the relevant regions Istria, Sibenik Knin and Zadar. Here it means however that “from not absolutely necessary journeys into the country (and/or the region, note of the editorship) is advised against. Whether a PCR test or quarantine will be necessary on re-entry, however, was left open by the legislator, at least until the editorial deadline.
Now partial travel warning for Croatia
On the homepage of the Austrian Foreign Ministry it says: “A 17.10.2020 a Partial Travel Warning (security level 5) for the entire national territory with the exception of the regions Brod-Posavina, Istria, Koprivnica- Križevci, Osijek -Baranja, Šibenik-Knin, Varaždin and Zadar.”.
coastal regions with low incidence numbers
“For these regions (Brod-Posavina, Istria, Koprivnica- Križevci, Osijek -Baranja, Šibenik-Knin, Varaždin and Zadar) the following applies from 17.10. 2020 a High Security Risk (security level 4).”
quarantine and PCR test despite security level 4?
As a reminder, security level 4, i.e. high risk, allowed virtually free travel to Croatia in summer 2020, without quarantine and PCR test on return. But now comes the bad news: “Consolidated in the entire Legislation for regulation on entry to Austria in connection with the containment of SARS-CoV-2, version of 15.10.2020” says quite differently:
“For Austrian citizens…the following applies: If these persons enter Austria from a country listed in Annex A2, they must carry a medical certificate in accordance with paragraph 1 and show at the inspection that the molecular biological test for SARS-CoV-2 is negative. The molecular biological test confirmed therein must not have been carried out more than 72 hours prior to the time of entry. If the health certificate cannot be presented and immediate departure is not ensured, these persons must undergo self-monitored home quarantine or quarantine in suitable accommodation, the availability of which must be confirmed.
The costs of this accommodation are to be borne by themselves. This accommodation may not be left for the quarantine period. The quarantine obligation is to be confirmed by personal signature. The persons have to arrange a molecular biological test for SARS-CoV-2 within 48 hours, the costs of which have to be borne by the persons themselves. If the test is negative, the quarantine may be terminated”. (See § 2, paragraph 2, item 2 or § 2, paragraph 2). And in Annex A2 Croatia is explicitly mentioned.”
Unclear regulation
In order to obtain legal certainty on this issue, SeaHelp asked the responsible ministry: “Is a current PCR test or alternatively a quarantine required for Austrians returning from these areas (travel warning level 4)? No answers were received until the publication of this article, only that it was still being written. The SeaHelp editorial staff always strives for legally sound reporting. In this case, however, we must unfortunately leave the interpretation to the reader. The question that arises: Was this intentional or has it simply been forgotten to change. We will update this article as soon as we have reliable information. There remains consolation: With travel warning level 4, the legal consequences for vacationers in the regions are significantly different from those with travel warning level 6. Jetzt ist es amtlich: Quarantäne bzw. PCR-Test entfallen unter anderem bei Einreise nach Österreich aus den kroatischen Gespanschaften Istrien, Sibenik, Zadar. [ulc id=”24277″ taxs=”473;471″ posts_per_page=”-1″ order_by=”title” order=”ASC” cols=”2″ layout_style=”minimal”]Quarantine/PCR test – interpretation is up to the holidaymaker
Update follows
FEDERAL LAW FOR THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA (445th regulation: COVID-19-Einreiseverordnung – COVID-19-EinreiseV):
Annex B reads literally: “Croatia (with the exception of the regions of Brod-Posavina, Istria, Koprivnica-Križevci, Osijek-Baranja, Šibenik-Knin, Varaždin, Zadar)”.
More information:
