Finland Reinstates More Border Controls at Its Internal and External Borders

Posted date: 22 Jul 2021

Amid increasing levels of Coronavirus cases throughout the European Union Member States and further in the world, the Finnish authorities have undertaken new measures in order to prevent the number of cases in Finland from increasing. In a meeting of the government cabinet held last Tuesday, August 18, the government agreed on new restrictions on internal and external border traffic, which will be reinstated based on an epidemiological assessment.

According to a press release of the Ministry of the Interior Ministry of Social Affairs and Health Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government decided to restore internal border controls to traffic between Finland and Iceland, Greece, Malta, Germany, Norway and Denmark.
It also notes that despite that the European Commission has emphasized the equal treatment of Member States in the event of an epidemic, exceptions to this principle may be made for local border communities.

Borders will remain open for Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia and Estonia, as the average number of cases detected in these countries in the last two weeks exceeds the limit value of eight but is below ten.
However, border controls will be brought back for traffic from Ireland, Cyprus and San Marino to Finland, as well as for Japanese residents on traffic from Japan to Finland starting from next Monday, August 24.

The government is also looking into restricting flights from Skopje after a high number of passengers from this flight have resulted positive when tested for COVID-19.Previously during its session of August 6, the cabinet decided that border controls for arrivals from Andorra, Belgium and the Netherlands must be reintroduced, due to the increasing levels of COVID-19 infections in these three countries. Whereas on July 27, the authorities had decided to bring back internal border controls for Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland. Since August 10, eligible to enter Finland are also those in an established relationship with a citizen/resident of Finland who can prove their relationship. Its missions located abroad have started admitting visa applications for this category of travellers as well, in line with the decision.

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GSP Admin