{"id":487575,"date":"2021-05-03T13:43:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T11:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=487575"},"modified":"2021-05-03T13:43:25","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T11:43:25","slug":"european-commission-wants-end-to-travel-restrictions-for-vaccinated-tourists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/487575\/european-commission-wants-end-to-travel-restrictions-for-vaccinated-tourists\/","title":{"rendered":"European Commission wants end to travel restrictions for vaccinated tourists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The European Commission proposed easing restrictions on business and leisure travel for those who have been fully inoculated against Covid-19, adding to signs of a gradual return to normalcy as vaccinations gather pace.<\/p>\n<p>The European Union\u2019s executive arm recommended welcoming tourists from countries with relatively low infection rates as well as those who are fully vaccinated, according to a statement Monday. The proposals require approval from member states and a Commission official said he was hopeful they would be adopted by the end of this month.<\/p>\n<p>The new parameters would replace a current blanket ban for non-essential travel to the EU for residents of all but a handful of countries that has been in place for more than a year.<\/p>\n<p><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/EU.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-487577\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/EU.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"814\" height=\"728\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/EU.jpg 814w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/EU-300x268.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/EU-768x687.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 814px) 100vw, 814px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The bloc is working on the introduction of a vaccine passport system that will ease travel for those inoculated or can prove that they have recently recovered from the coronavirus and are thus considered immune.<\/p>\n<p>Member states would be obliged to accept proof for all shots approved in the EU &#8212; including those produced by Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE, AstraZeneca Plc and Moderna Inc. &#8212; and would accept vaccination proof from non-European countries.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Time to revive \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa tourism industry &amp; for cross-border friendships to rekindle &#8211; safely.<\/p>\n<p>We propose to welcome again vaccinated visitors &amp; those from countries with a good health situation.<\/p>\n<p>But if variants emerge we have to act fast: we propose an EU emergency brake mechanism.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vonderleyen\/status\/1389141961190301696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 3, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The commission said that vaccines that have completed the World Health Organization emergency use listing process may also be included.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the new rules would allow member states to ban all travel from countries where coronavirus variants of concern emerge, through a so-called emergency brake.<\/p>\n<p>The Commission will draw up a list of approved vaccination certificates issued by non-EU countries. Discussions with Washington will hopefully lead to the introduction of a uniform certificate that meets the EU\u2019s security and accuracy standards, according to a commission official briefing reporters in Brussels.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/487365\/some-good-news-for-south-africas-covid-19-vaccine-rollout\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Some good news for South Africa\u2019s Covid-19 vaccine rollout<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The European Commission proposed easing restrictions on business and leisure travel for those who have been fully inoculated against Covid-19, adding to signs of a gradual return to normalcy as vaccinations gather pace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":446388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-487575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487575"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487583,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487575\/revisions\/487583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}