CYIL vol. 12 (2021)

Birutė Pranevičienė – Violeta Vasiliauskienė – Harald Scheu CYIL 12 (2021) provides that duties may be imposed, and limitations may be placed upon the fundamental rights only by an act of Parliament, such restrictions and limitations may be foreseen by an act of government under the Crisis Act or by an act of the public health authorities under the Public Health Act. Since the Czech government, in reaction to the COVID-19 epidemic, declared the first state of emergency on 12 March 2020, many measures followed which cover different fields of social and economic life in the country. The government website lists dozens of concrete measures of a general and economic character. 16 For the high number of measures, it is not possible to provide a detailed overview in a few pages. However, we may point at the most important measures which concerned the internal and external dimension of free movement. As for the external dimension of free movement, it is striking that already one day after the declaration of the state of emergency, i.e., on 14 March 2020, the Czech government reintroduced internal borders with Germany and Austria, limiting the number of border crossing points. The land borders with Slovakia and Poland were closed by the Slovak and the Polish governments on 13 March 2020, respectively on 15 March 2020. On 16 March 2020 the Czech government decided to refuse access to the Czech Republic to all foreign nationals, with the exception of foreign nationals with permanent residence or temporary residence of over 90 days and foreign nationals whose entry is in the interests of the Czech Republic. 17 Anyone returning to the Czech Republic (including Czech citizens) had to undergo a mandatory two weeks´ quarantine. Most dramatically, Czech citizens were forbidden to leave the country. Foreign nationals with permanent or temporary residence of over 90 days were allowed to leave the Czech Republic, but without a right to return for the duration of the state of emergency. A special regime for cross-border workers was developed and later repeatedly amended. As of 14 April 2020, travelling abroad was reallowed for so-called essential activities (i.e., in particular business activities or visits of relatives). On 20 April, the borders were reopened for all Czech citizens, under the condition of a two weeks´ quarantine or a negative COVID-19 test after the return. During May 2020, the rules for border crossing were gradually relaxed for both Czech and foreign nationals. As of 26 May 2020, EU citizens were allowed to enter the Czech Republic in order to perform economic activities, to visit relatives, or to study at a university, if they presented a negative COVID-19 test upon entry. Border controls at the Czech-Austrian and the Czech-German borders ended on 5 June 2020. The quarantine obligation was lifted for people coming from countries with a low risk of infection. During the second wave of anti-COVID measures, following the declaration of a new state of emergency on 5 October 2021, Czech authorities did not close the borders. However, people entering the Czech Republic from high-risk countries were required to fill in online arrival forms, present a negative PCR test, or to undergo a 10-day quarantine. Moreover,

16 For a regularly updated list of measures see the website of the Czech government at https://www.vlada.cz/en/ media-centrum/aktualne/measures-adopted-by-the-czech-government-against-coronavirus-180545. 17 Already on 12 March 2020, the government of the Czech Republic, with effect from 14 March 2020, had issued an entry ban for all foreigners coming from risk areas, with the exception of foreigners staying with a temporary stay of more than 90 days or permanent residence in the Czech Republic.

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