EU Council adopts traffic light system to coordinate free movement
The Council of the European Union (EU) has adopted a new system to coordinate the restrictions of free movement in response to the Covid-19 pandemic among member states
The system aims to avoid fragmentation and disruption, and to increase transparency and predictability for citizens and businesses.
Michael Roth, Germany’s Minister of State for Europe, explained: “The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted our daily lives in many ways. Travel restrictions have made it difficult for some of our citizens to get to work, to university or to visit their loved ones.
“It is our common duty to ensure co-ordination on any measures that affect free movement and to give our citizens all the information they need when deciding on their travel.”
Any measures restricting free movement to protect public health must be proportionate and non-discriminatory, and must be lifted as soon as the epidemiological situation allows, the Council said in a statement.
Common criteria and mapping
Every week, member states should provide the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) with the data available on the following criteria: the number of newly notified cases per 100,000 population in the last 14 days; the number of tests per 100,000 population carried out in the last week (testing rate); and the percentage of positive tests carried out in the last week (test positivity rate).
Based on this data, the ECDC will publish a weekly map of EU member states, broken down by regions, to support member states in their decision-making. Areas will be marked in the following colours:
- green if the 14-day notification rate is lower than 25 and the test positivity rate below four per cent
- orange if the 14-day notification rate is lower than 50 but the test positivity rate is four per cent or higher, or if the 14-day notification rate is between 25 and 150 and the test positivity rate is below four per cent
- red if the 14-day notification rate is 50 or higher and the test positivity rate is four per cent or higher, or if the 14-day notification rate is higher than 150
- grey if there is insufficient information or if the testing rate is lower than 300
Free movement restrictions
Member states should not restrict the free movement of persons travelling to or from green areas, according to the Council.
Generally, member states should in principle not refuse entry to persons travelling from other member states. Those member states that consider it necessary to introduce restrictions could require persons travelling from non-green areas to undergo quarantine and testing.
Since March 2020, the Commission has adopted a number of guidelines and communications with the aim of supporting member states’ coordination efforts and safeguarding free movement within the EU. Discussions on this topic have also taken place within the Council.
Meanwhile, the EU has been working on STAMINA, a project that aims to develop an intelligent system to support first responders, practitioners, hospitals and pandemic crisis managers with decision-making in the prediction and management of pandemics.