The EU Council has revised the list of third countries from which unnecessary travel to the EU is allowed and has decided to reinstate travel restrictions in Serbia, Albania and Japan.

In particular, Uruguay was added to the new revised “white list” without travel restrictions to the EU, but Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brunei, Japan and Serbia were removed.

Based on the criteria and conditions set out in the Council Recommendation, from 9 September 2021, Member States should gradually lift travel restrictions at the external borders for residents of the following third countries: Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Jordan, New Zealand, Qatar, Republic of Moldova, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Ukraine, Uruguay and China, subject to reciprocal confirmation.

This list will continue to be reviewed every two weeks.

The compilation of the list is based on the epidemiological situation of each country (less than 75 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days), as well as the presence of variants, the detection rate, the reliability of the data and the progress of vaccination.

The recommendation of the EU Council is not legally binding on the Member States.

It is recalled that at the end of August, the EU recommended the return of restrictions on unnecessary travel from the United States.

The US has been closed to the vast majority of international travelers, whether they have been tested or vaccinated, since March 2020.