From 20 July, persons who will be ordered to quarantine will be able to enter Slovenia at any border crossing, and police officers will now be responsible for serving quarantine decisions, including in the interior of the country.

At today's meeting, the Government issued the Ordinance on imposing and implementing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at the external border crossings and at control points at the internal borders of the Republic of Slovenia, which will be published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia.

Measures also in the interior of the country

The ordinance lays down measures to be taken at the external border and at control points at the internal borders of Slovenia upon entry into Slovenia, and in the interior of Slovenia.

From now on, persons who will be ordered to quarantine will be able to enter Slovenia at any border crossing or control point, and police officers will be responsible for serving quarantine decisions

Persons who will be ordered to quarantine will be able to enter Slovenia at any border crossing or control point. The issue and service of decisions takes place in the following manner: a police officer will obtain the data necessary for the issue of a quarantine decision from persons ordered to quarantine and then forward the data to a representative of the Ministry of Health. The representative will arrange for the issue of a decision and send it to the police officer at a border crossing or control point, and the police officer will serve the quarantine decision on the person, allowing them to enter the country.

Police officers will also serve decisions within the country

If a person who should have been ordered to quarantine upon entry into Slovenia is already in Slovenia (for example, if they illegally crossed the national border), a police officer will obtain the data required for the drafting of a quarantine decision from that person within the country and will send the data to a representative of the Ministry of Health; the necessary data includes the person’s name and surname, date of birth, address of permanent or temporary residence or the place where the person will stay in quarantine in the Republic of Slovenia and an e-mail address at which they will receive the quarantine decision in electronic form. The representative will arrange for the issue of a quarantine decision and send it to the police unit of the police officer who obtained the data and who will then serve the quarantine decision on the person concerned.

An additional exception in crossing the border without having to quarantine

Article 10 of the Ordinance lists 18 exceptions for crossing the border without having to quarantine. By way of exception, a representative of foreign security authorities (the police or justice authorities) who enters Slovenia to carry out an operational task of surrendering or extraditing a wanted person or transferring the enforcement of a prison sentence of a convicted person may enter Slovenia without restrictions and quarantine and should exit Slovenia as soon as possible after completing the task (point 18 of paragraph one of Article 10 of the ordinance).

Entry into force of the ordinance

The ordinance will enter into force on 20 July 2020, and upon its entry into force, the Ordinance on imposing and implementing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at the external border crossings and at control points at the internal borders of the Republic of Slovenia (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia [Uradni list RS], Nos 83/20, 86/20, 88/20, 90/20, 93/20 and 95/20) ceases to be in force.

Changes to the lists of countries as of 17 July 2020, Croatia remains on the yellow list

Changes to the green list:

• Newly added countries: the Czech Republic, Poland, the United Kingdom, San Marino, the Vatican, Monaco, Andorra, Georgia, Morocco, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Rwanda, Uruguay.
• Iceland has been struck off the list.

At today’s meeting the Government was briefed on the Assessment of the Epidemiological Situation in the EU Member States and the Schengen Area States, the Balkan States and Italian provinces, prepared by the National Institute of Public Health. The Government decided to include the following countries in the list of epidemiologically safe counties or administrative units of individual countries (green list) as of 17 July 2020: Poland, Australia, Georgia, New Zealand, Rwanda, Uruguay, San Marino, the Vatican and Morocco (all previously on the yellow list).

Exceptions to the epidemiologically safe countries regime also include the following countries, which currently slightly exceed the cumulative 14-day incidence of a maximum of 10.0/100,000 inhabitants, but in the previous epidemiological situation assessment they did not exceed this limit and the current Assessment of the Epidemiological Situation trend for these countries shows no significant rise in infections, the data of their national institutes are reliable, and there have been relatively few or no cases imported from these countries.

Therefore, Austria, Belgium, France, Spain and the Czech Republic as a whole remain on the green list. New additions to this list include Canada, Monaco (both were previously included in the yellow list), Andorra and the United Kingdom (previously on the red list).

Iceland will be taken off the list on 17 July 2020.

Persons with permanent or temporary residence in a country included in the list of epidemiologically safe countries who are travelling from these countries may enter Slovenia without restrictions or quarantine.

Changes to the red list: new additions include Luxembourg and Montenegro.

Due to a deterioration of the epidemiological situation, the red list will be expanded by the following countries: Luxembourg, Montenegro (both were previously on the yellow list), China, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Honduras, Israel, Equatorial Guinea, Cabo Verde Islands, Colombia, Turks and Caicos Islands, Azerbaijan, Iraq, the Virgin Islands, Kyrgyzstan, Argentina, Seychelles, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, Eswatini, and Suriname (previously on the yellow list).

A 14-day quarantine will be imposed on persons entering Slovenia who have permanent or temporary residence in a country with a worsening epidemiological situation (i.e. countries on the red list) and on all other persons, irrespective of their nationality or country of residence, who arrive in Slovenia from one of these countries, except for persons falling under one of the six exceptions specified in paragraph one of Article 10 (points 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7) of the Ordinance.

The green list (effective as of 17 July 2020):

1. Hungary
2. Austria
3. Cyprus
4. Czech Republic
5. Estonia
6. Finland
7. Germany
8. Greece
9. Iceland (removed 17 July 2020)
10. Latvia
11. Lithuania
12. Liechtenstein
13. Norway
14. Slovak Republic
15. Switzerland
16. Italy
17. Denmark
18. Ireland
19. Malta
20. Spain
21. Belgium
22. The Netherlands
23. France
24. Australia (added 17 July 2020)
25. Georgia (added 17 July 2020)
26. New Zealand (added 17 July 2020)
27. Rwanda (added 17 July 2020)
28. Uruguay (added 17 July 2020)
29. San Marino (added 17 July 2020)
30. The Vatican (added 17 July 2020)
31. Poland (added 17 July 2020)
32. Morocco (added 17 July 2020)
33. Andorra (added 17 July 2020
34. Monaco (added 17 July 2020)
35. United Kingdom (added 17 July 2020 after being taken off the red list)

 The red list (effective as of 17 July 2020):

1. Qatar
2. Bahrain
3. Chile
4. Kuwait
5. Peru
6. Armenia
7. Djibouti
8. Oman
9. Brazil
10. Panama
11. Belarus
12. Andorra (removed on 17 July 2020 and added to the green list)
13. Singapore
14. Sweden
15. Maldives
16. Sao Tomé and Principe
17. United Arab Emirates
18. United States of America
19. Saudi Arabia
20. Russia
21. Moldova
22. Gibraltar
23. Bolivia
24. Puerto Rico
25. Gabon
26. Cayman Islands
27. Dominican Republic
28. Republic of South Africa,
29. Iran
30. United Kingdom (removed on 17 July 2020 and added to the green list)
31. North Macedonia
32. Serbia
33. Bosnia and Herzegovina
34. Kosovo
35. Portugal
36. Albania
37. Luxembourg (added 17 July 2020)
38. Montenegro (added 17 July 2020)
39. China (added 17 February 2020)
40. Algeria (17 February 2020)
41. Kazakhstan (added 17 July 2020)
42. Honduras (added 17 July 2020)
43. Israel (added 17 July 2020)
44. Equatorial Guinea (added 17 July 2020)
45. Cape Verde Islands (added 17 July 2020)
46. Colombia (added 17 July 2020)
47. Turks and Caicos Islands (added 17 July 2020)
48. Azerbaijan (added 17 July 2020)
49. Iraq (added 17 July 2020)
50. US Virgin Islands (added 17 July 2020)
51. Kyrgyzstan (added 17 July 2020)
52. Argentina (added 17 July 2020)
53. Seychelles (added 17 July 2020)
54. Costa Rica (added 17 July 2020)
55. Ecuador (added 17 July 2020)
56. Guatemala (added 17 July 2020)
57. Mexico (added 17 July 2020)
58. El Salvador (added 17 July 2020)
59. Argentina (added 17 July 2020)
60. Suriname (added 17 July 2020)

Ordinance on the temporary prohibition of gatherings of people continues to remain in force

The Government considers that the current epidemiological situation in Slovenia has been stabilised and brought under control by measures adopted to contain and control the COVID-19 epidemic, published in the Ordinance on the Temporary General Restriction or Prohibition of the Gathering of People in the Republic of Slovenia. As the trend of new infections does not point to an increase in infections, and no decline has yet been identified, the Government has decided that the existing restrictions should continue to be in force.

The Government determines the professional justifiability of such measures every seven days and decides on the basis of expert opinion whether these measures will continue to apply, be amended or be abolished, and notifies the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia and the public accordingly.