Romania Removes Passenger Locator Form Requirement for Travellers
According to the Official Gazette, the official legal publication of the Romanian State, the measure which obliged all arrivals regardless of vaccination and nationality requirements to complete an entry form no later than 72 hours before entering Romania or within the first day after arrival, became effective immediately after its publication last Friday, AtoZSerwisPlus.Ro reports.
Regarding the decision, the Romanian government points out that continuing to apply the measure could lead to sanctions for the country and extra costs for institutions involved.
>> Romania Lifts All COVID-19 Travel Restrictions
The communication of this measure has caused confusion in the country as the government spokesman, Dan C?rbunaru, had said that the draft Emergency Ordinance could be adopted that day [March 10], in an official meeting.
“This week, the situation of using the passenger location form at the entrance to Romania will be clarified. It will most likely be cancelled tomorrow in a government meeting in which this provision will be practically repealed,” Dan C?rbunaru declared on Thursday.
In the meanwhile, he called on Romanians to continue completing this form upon reaching the country. On the other hand, the Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, announced on March 8 that all restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 would be lifted, implying there was no need to wear a mask or provide a COVID-19 certificate or complete the PLF form before reaching Romania.
This unclear communication of the new measures could cost Romanian citizens from 500 (€101) to 3,000 lei (€606), with the minimum threshold of the fine being reduced from 2,000 (€404) to 500 lei.
According to the data provided by the Romanian Ministry of Health for local media, between December 25 and January 31, a number of 149,560 fines were issued, and the value of these fines amounted to 360,991,000 lei or €72,992,372.
The decision to lift all measures was expected as the majority of EU Member States have announced similar relaxation of their Coronavirus-imposed rules, yet surprising, considering the fact that Romania is the second least vaccinated country in the EU.
Data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reveals that 41.9 per cent of Romanians have received a full series of vaccination against COVID-19, accounting for eight million people.
As data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) reveals, the country has registered about 22,632 positive cases in the last seven days, taking the total number of infection cases in the country to 2,794,081.
