'Unnecessary' entry to Latvia banned from February 11 until February 25

Take note – story published 3 years ago

In order to slow the spread of the new strains of Covid-19, the Latvian government has decided on a number of additional border regulations February 5.

International passenger carrier services have been suspended for an indefinite period of time between Latvia and the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Portugal.

From February 11 until February 25, entry to Latvia is banned if there is no significant reason to come to the country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in a tweet.

On Friday, the government agreed that Latvia should only be entered for urgent and essential reasons, namely: employment, work duty, training, studies, family association, medical services, transit, accompanying a minor, to return permanently, or attend a funeral.

Whether the person wishing to enter meets these criteria will have to be certified by the persons themselves by completing an electronic questionnaire on the website covidpass.lv.

Documents or other reliable evidence for the veracity of this statement will not have to be added when completing the electronic questionnaire, but the persons must be able to present them to the State Border Guard or the State Police upon request.

A person shall not be required to produce documents certifying the purpose of entry if the information certifying one of the referred to purposes of entry is already available in the national information systems, such as information on the person's place of residence, civil status, direct family relations.

In order to certify that professional drivers' entry using a vehicle of a carrier or a vehicle which does not perform commercial transport is carried out for the performance of work duties, professional drivers of trucks and buses shall, at the request of the State Border Guard or the State Police, present an appropriate category driving license and the driver card of the digital tachograph or the tachograph of the last working day, as well as the employer-issued certificate, the form and content of which correspond to the model developed by the European Commission.

Essential travel
Essential travel

If a person enters Latvia with a passenger carrier, the carrier shall control whether the passenger has registered with the covidpass.lv site, but does not control the completeness or veracity of the information indicated in the electronic questionnaire.

The passenger carrier shall not be entitled to take onboard persons who have not completed the electronic questionnaire covidpass.lv and declared the purpose of entry.

The government has also decided this week what documents should be presented by cargo and passenger carriers when entering Latvia. At the request of the State Border Guard or the State Police, drivers of goods vehicles and buses shall present the relevant category driving license and the driver card of the digital tachograph or the tachograph of the last working day, as well as the certificate issued by the employer in accordance with the model developed by the European Commission.

In order to enter Latvia, sailors travelling to or returning from their jobs must have an identification document (Seaman's Service Book), an employer document confirming the need to go to or from the workplace.

These documents may be in paper form or electronic form (smart device).

As in the past, employees of the transport sector have to be required to complete the “Covidpass.lv” questionnaire before arriving in Latvia, but a negative Covid-19 test does not have to be presented, as is the case with everyone else.

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