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The Government issued the Ordinance determining the conditions of entry into the Republic of Slovenia to contain and control COVID-19, which enters into force on Friday, 25 December 2020.

The new Ordinance tightens entry conditions by shortening the validity of a negative test to 24 hours and only recognising PCR tests done in an EU/Schengen member state. The green and orange lists of countries have been scrapped, hence only the red list remains.

Fewer exemptions for entry without quarantine or negative test

Entry into Slovenia from a red-listed country without mandatory quarantine at home or a negative SARS-CoV-2 test result is not possible, except in case of the following seven exemptions:

  • Cross-border commuters who work in an EU or Schengen country, and can demonstrate this fact with a document or a signed statement to that effect, provided they return to Slovenia within 14 hours from crossing the border;
  • Persons dispatched to, or returning from, work in international transport sector who demonstrate this fact by means of a "Certificate for International Transport Workers" referred to in Annex 3 of the Communication from the Commission on the implementation of the Green Lanes under the Guidelines for border management measures to protect health and ensure the availability of goods and essential services (OJ C 96, 24.3.2020, p. 1) or another adequate document from which it is clearly evident that they were dispatched by their employer;
  • Persons who carry out transport of goods or persons to or from the Republic of Slovenia in commercial transport and in freight and passenger transport in transit, provided they leave the Republic of Slovenia within 8 hours from crossing the border;
  • Persons transiting through the Republic of Slovenia and leaving the Republic of Slovenia within 6 hours from entry;
  • Law enforcement (police and justice) representatives of another country on official duty, provided they leave the Republic of Slovenia immediately after completing their duty;
  • Persons brought to the Republic of Slovenia in an ambulance or a patient transport vehicle, and the accompanying medical staff in the ambulance or vehicle;
  • Diplomatic passport holders.

The following exemptions no longer apply: education reasons, urgent business reasons, a scheduled medical examination or procedure, owning or leasing land in the border area or on both sides of the state border, maintaining contacts with close family members across the border and access to shops or services in the neighbouring country. In all these cases, a negative test is required or quarantine will be imposed.

To avoid mandatory quarantine, a person needs to provide a negative test result which is not older than 24 hours and which was done in an EU or Schengen country. Only PCR test results are accepted.

Country lists

The green list (of epidemiologically safe countries) and orange list (of epidemiologically less safe countries) have been scrapped. Thus all countries that are not explicitly red-listed are considered to be countries with a low risk of infection, and persons coming from these countries or administrative units may enter the Republic of Slovenia without mandatory quarantine or a negative SARS-CoV-2 test result.

Entry into force of the Ordinance

The Ordinance enters into force on 25 December 2020, when the Ordinance on imposing and implementing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at border crossing points at the external border and checkpoints at internal borders of the Republic of Slovenia (Official Gazette RS, no. 190/20) ceases to be in force.

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