In the Official Journal of the Republic of Poland under item 1498 a Regulation of the Council of Ministers of August 31, 2020 on flights ban has been published. It prolongs the international flights ban till September 15, 2020. The Regulation entered into force on September 2, 2020.
The states to which the ban refers
The ban refers to international flights of civil aircraft to Polish airports and airfields from the following states:
1) Belize;
2) Bosnia and Herzegovina;
3) Montenegro;
4) the Federative Republic of Brazil;
5) the Kingdom of Bahrain;
6) the Kingdom of Eswatini;
7) the Kingdom of Spain;
8) the United Mexican States;
9) the State of Israel;
10) the State of Qatar;
11) the State of Kuwait;
12) Libya;
13) Republic of Albania;
14) the Argentine Republic;
15) the Republic of Armenia;
16) the Republic of Chile;
17) the Dominican Republic;
18) the Republic of Ecuador;
19) the Republic of Guatemala;
20) the Republic of Honduras;
21) the Republic of India;
22) the Republic of Iraq;
23) the Republic of Kazakhstan;
24) the Republic of Colombia;
25) the Republic of Kosovo;
26) the Republic of Costa Rica;
27) the Republic of Lebanon;
28) the Republic of North Macedonia;
29) the Republic of Maldives;
30) the Republic of Malta;
31) the Republic of Moldova;
32) the Republic of Namibia;
33) the Republic of Panama;
34) the Republic of Paraguay;
35) the Republic of Peru;
36) the Republic of South Africa;
37) the Republic of El Salvador;
38) the Republic of Suriname;
39) the Republic of Cabo Verde;
40) Rumunia;
41) the United States of America;
42) the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg;
43) the Plurinational State of Bolivia;
44) the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.
The above mentioned ban does not apply to aircraft performing international flights:
1) at the order or with a permit of the Prime Minister;
2) mentioned in Art. 76 paragraph 1 of an Act of July 3, 2002 – Aviation Law (inter alia flights performed in order to bring medical help, help and rescue flights, humanitarian flights, flights with the STATE, GUARD, HEAD status);
3) performed for the needs of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland and for the needs of foreign armed forces as defined in the Act of September 23, 1999 on the rules of the stay of foreign armed forces on the territory of the Republic of Poland and the rules of their movement through that territory (the Official Journal of the Republic of Poland of 2018, item 2110) performing tasks on the territory of the Republic of Poland.
4) chartered at the order of a tour operator or an entity acting at its order before the entrance into force of the regulation.
Flights without restrictions
The flights without restrictions are permitted inter alia:
- from the European Union Member States (excluding Luxembourg);
- from the European Free Trade Association member states (EFTA) – parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA);
- from Switzerland.
Flights with restrictions
The flights from the states that are not referred to in the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of August 31, 2020, when crossing the state border at an air border crossing point takes place, are allowed only for the following passengers:
• citizens of the Republic of Poland;
• foreigners that are either spouses or children of the citizens of the Republic of Poland or are under custody of the citizens of the Republic of Poland;
• foreigners that are holders of the Pole’s Card;
• Heads of Diplomatic Missions and members of the diplomatic and consular staff of the missions, i. e. persons with a diplomatic rank and their family members;
• foreigners with a right to permanent or temporary residence on the territory of the Republic of Poland;
• foreigners with a right to employment on the territory of the Republic of Poland, i.e. foreigners allowed to be employed on the same terms as Polish citizens, foreigners holding a work permit, certificate of entry to the seasonal work evidence, declaration of entrusting the performance of a work to a foreigner on the territory of the Republic of Poland, who:
a) perform the work on the territory of the Republic of Poland or
b) present documents stating that the employment will start immediately after the border has been crossed;
• pupils learning in the Republic of Poland, after showing documents to the Border Guard officer proving that they learn in Poland;
• citizens of the European Union Member States, citizens of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member states – parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) or the citizens of the Swiss Confederation, as well as their spouses and children;
• foreigners who have a European Union permanent residence permit or a European Union long-term resident’s permit on the territory of other European Union member states, on the territory of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member state – party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA), or on the territory of Switzerland; as well as their spouses and children, in order to travel through the territory of the Republic of Poland to their place of living or residence;
• students, post-graduate students, specialist training students or students of other forms of education, as well as PhD students studying in the Republic of Poland, after documenting their education in the Republic of Poland to a Border Guard officer;
• scientists conducting research or development work in the Republic of Poland, after documenting the conduct of scientific research or development works in the Republic of Poland to a Border Guard officer;
• foreigners travelling with an aircraft as defined in Art. 2 point 1 of the Act of July 3, 2002 – Aviation Law (the Official Journal of the Republic of Poland of 2019, item 1580 and 1495 as well as of 2020 item 284) performing an international flight, who:
a) are citizens of: Georgia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, the Kingdom of Thailand, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Tunisia, the Commonwealth of Australia or
b) have a right of residence on the territory of the states referred to in letter a;
• persons crossing the border of the Republic of Poland on the basis of the state visa in order to repatriate or a visa in order to enter the territory of the Republic of Poland as a member of the closest family of the repatriated person;
• foreigners who come to Poland as competitors, members of the training team, doctors, physiotherapists, referees or accredited journalists in order to participate in international sports competitions organized on the territory of the Republic of Poland by an international sports federation of Olympic, Paralympic or other games acknowledged by the International Olympic Committee or which are organized by an international sports organization of a continental range belonging to such a federation or by a Polish sports association, after they have submitted to a Border Guard officer a document certifying that such competitions take place, when they take place and in which capacity they are going to participate in such competitions. Such a document should be issued by the organizer of the competitions or it should be certified by an appropriate Polish sports association.
• foreigners crossing the border of the Republic of Poland on the basis of a visa issued in order to allow them the entrance to the Republic of Poland for humanitarian reasons, because of the state’s interest or international obligations.
Quarantine
Passengers that came to Poland from states not covered by the ban are not subject to a quarantine period, except for passengers of an aircraft performing a flight from the territory of the Republic of Belarus, Ukraine or Russian Federation.
The material was elaborated on the basis of:
The Regulation of the Council of Ministers of August 31, 2020 on flight ban (the Official Journal of the Republic of Poland, item 1498);
The Regulation of the Council of Ministers of August 7, 2020 on establishing certain limitations, orders and prohibitions due to the epidemic state (the Official Journal of the Republic of Poland, item 1356, 1393, 1425, 1484 i 1505);
The Regulation of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration of March 13, 2020 on temporary suspension or restriction of cross-border movement on certain border crossing-points (the Official Journal of the Republic of Poland, items 435, 469, 864, 905, 1030, 1045, 1183, 1379, 1424 i 1448).