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5/8/2020
Dear clients,
With effect from 3 August 2020, 0:00 am, the Ministry of Health issued a new protective measure covering the entire Czech Republic. Although the obligations imposed on employers do not change in type, adjustments have been made to the definition of countries for which more lenient rules apply. For clarity, we have prepared an up-to-date overview for you.
For a complete list of obligations and the full wording of the protective measure, we refer you to the website of the Ministry of Health.
COMMUTERS
The obligation imposed by the previous protective measure, which we informed you about here, still applies, namely:
Employers and end-users of workers who are nationals of countries not on the list of countries with a low risk of COVID-19 or who are nationals of designated countries, who have resided for more than 12 hours in the last 14 days in those countries, are obliged to prevent entry of these persons to all establishments and workplaces of the employer if these persons do not simultaneously submit a negative test (RT-PCR) for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 from the territory of the Czech Republic.
The measure no longer explicitly states that the test must not be older than 4 days, i.e. there should be no difficulty of interpretation as to how many tests an employee has to take in the 14 days after arrival, and one test should be sufficient.
Namely, the marked countries (so the countries with the low risks of infection from which the commuters must be tested) include:
And it is not newly included in the list, therefore, is one of the countries with a high risk of infection - Romania.
A list of all countries with a low risk of infection is included here.
If you do not find the country you are looking for in the list / it is marked with an asterisk (*) - it is subject to the obligation regarding testing of commuters mentioned above.
For employers in the Moravian-Silesian Region, an extraordinary measure of KHS MSK is still in force, i.e. the obligation to test all cross-border workers applies, regardless of the country from which they come (more details here).
EMPLOYEES RETURNING FROM VACATION
As for Czech employees returning from vacation, the traffic light system, which we informed you about here, is still in force.
Newly after returning from Romania, it is necessary to undergo an RT-PCR test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 at its own expense. This obligation shall not apply to the Republic of Tunisia.
The list of countries will again serve for better orientation - if the country is included in the list, the obligation to undergo testing after the return will not apply / if the country is not included in the list, it is necessary to undergo a test. In this case, countries marked with an asterisk (*) are not considered - these are specifically for commuters only.
In connection with the travel of employees abroad, we continue to recommend employers to warn their employees in advance of the need for a test / quarantine in an appropriate manner in order to avoid practical difficulties in returning employees to work after leave.
If any of the above obligations still cause you problems, we will be happy to help you with any questions.