Border police in the Netherlands will today begin carrying out checks on the Covid-19 status of anyone crossing the border into the country from Belgium or Germany.
The move means that anyone travelling to the Netherlands by whatever means of transport will now be required to show evidence of their coronavirus status – either vaccinated, recovered from a previous infection or having taken a negative test.
Evidence of recovery or vaccination can be produced via the CoronaCheck or CovidSafe apps, or by the certificate of vaccination available from myhealthviewer.be.
A test must be taken no longer than 48 hours before departure in the case of a PCR test, or 24 hours for an antigen test.
Failure to provide evidence of status will result in a fine of €95 per person.
The Dutch gendarmerie, or Koninklijke Marechaussee, is the authority that polices the border and mobile teams will be deployed to border crossing points from Belgium and Germany. Cars will be pulled over at random and the papers of all occupants over the age of 12 examined. In cases where the vaccine status of passengers cannot be verified, tests may be administered on the spot.
These checks were initially intended only for those arriving from Belgium, since the infection figures in the border areas of Germany were considered low enough to be less of a problem. At the same time, France, Spain, and Portugal were designated yellow, bringing the risk that returning tourists would pass through Belgium.
But since then, Italy has become yellow on the infection map, making it necessary to include Germany in the border checks as many drivers travel from Italy through Germany to get to the Netherlands.
While the Koninklijke Marechaussee will carry out checks on vehicles on the roads, checks on ships, trains and flights will be the responsibility of travel companies.
