Spain Officially Ends Covid Travel Controls
Spain has officially eliminated strict Covid controls and checkpoints at its ports and airports in a bid to “favour international mobility.”
Passengers will no longer be required to fill out a Spain Travel Health (SpTH) control form or present a vaccination certificate whether they arrive in the country by plane or by ship as of Tuesday, 20th September, according to local media reports.
Despite this, visitors and citizens alike are still required to wear masks on all Spanish transport, which includes planes arriving in or departing from Spain.
This is according to the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, who told Congress last week that individuals will be required to wear masks on all Spanish public transport systems until experts advise otherwise.
Temperature controls at airports will also remain in place.
This is part of an attempt to re-establish normality in Spanish airports and ports in order to aid international mobility without sacrificing public health, according to a resolution published by the Official State Gazette (BOE) on Monday, 19th September.
The BOE added: “The measures to limit international mobility must be applied in compliance with the general principles of Union Law, and must not go beyond what is strictly necessary to safeguard public health and must be lifted when the epidemiological situation, particularly in hospitals, allows it.”
This means that passengers are no longer required to complete the SpTH form which generated a QR code for boarding and health controls or present an EU Covid Digital Certificate or a valid equivalent written out in Spanish or one of Spain’s co-official languages.
In addition, cruise passengers will no longer have to present a negative PCR test carried out 72 hours before boarding or prove that they have been vaccinated against Covid, according to the BOE.
