After talks with the neighbouring countries and federal states concerned and given the overall trend of the infection rate, Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer decided to make the following changes to Germany’s border regime at the end of this week:

He will order checks at the borders with France, Austria and Switzerland to continue until 15 June 2020. The same applies to air borders with Italy and Spain.

However, restrictions at land borders will be relaxed. All cross-border traffic routes will be reopened. Checks will no longer be systematic, but rather flexible and risk-based, in close coordination with the police authorities of the neighbouring states. While travellers will still need a valid reason for entering Germany, more allowances will be made for travel for family-related and personal reasons.

By easing travel restrictions, the Federal Minister of the Interior is responding to the downward trend in the number of COVID-19 cases. Should these numbers change in a neighbouring country, the intensity of checks can be increased quickly in consultation with the country concerned. To provide orientation, Germany has set a threshold of more than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents within 7 days.

Checks at the border with Luxembourg will end at midnight on 15 May 2020. The Federal Police will resume its usual practice of conducting checks and searches within 30 kilometres of the border.

The Federal Minister of the Interior is also willing to end checks at the border with Denmark. A date will be agreed with Denmark as soon as the Danish government has completed its current consultations with its neighbouring states.

In Germany, the Federal Government and the governments of the federal states have so far succeeded in keeping the number of infections with the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 low in comparison to other countries by putting in place drastic restrictions in almost every area of life. In March and April the daily numbers of new cases were in the thousands, but have since dropped to only a few hundred new cases each day. This positive trend allows us to cautiously and gradually relax restrictions. But this trend is still fragile. The Federal Government’s actions therefore continue to be guided by the aim of containing the pandemic.

The Federal Minister of the Interior seeks to end all corona-related border checks on 15 June 2020, if the development of the pandemic allows this.

Regarding the EU’s external borders, the European Commission has recommended continuing restrictions on entry from non-EU countries until 15 June 2020. Germany is following this recommendation.

The federal states are encouraged to revise their quarantine regulations for arriving and returning travellers as needed. A 14-day quarantine should be ordered in future only for travellers entering Germany from countries outside of the EU.