The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021

PART 2 N.I. Obligations on persons arriving in Northern Ireland and others

Provide information N.I.

Requirement to provide information N.I.

4.—(1) This regulation applies in respect of a person (P) who is—

(a) a red list arrival,

(b) an amber list arrival, or

(c) a green list arrival.

(2) P must provide the information set out in Schedule 3 (“passenger information”) on the Passenger Locator Form.

(3) Where P is an adult, P must provide the passenger information for any child for whom P has responsibility and with whom P is travelling.

(4) Where P is a child and is unaccompanied by an adult, then an adult who has responsibility for P must provide the passenger information on behalf of P.

(5) The passenger information must be provided—

(a) on arrival, or

(b) in the 48 hours before arrival.

(6) This regulation is satisfied where—

(a) P arrives in Northern Ireland from Scotland, Wales or England,

(b) a Passenger Locator Form in respect of P has been completed in accordance with an enactment in Scotland, Wales or England, and

(c) an address in Northern Ireland has been specified where P intends to isolate (in the case of a person who is required to isolate) or stay (in any other case).

[F1 (6A) A person described in paragraph (1), (3) or (4) is treated as having complied with those paragraphs (as applicable) if they provide the specified passenger information on the Passenger Locator Form—

(a) in the case of a person arriving in Northern Ireland on a cruise ship, in the 21 days before they are required to provide the information, or

(b) in any other case, in the 48 hours before they are required to provide the information.]

(7) Where the passenger information is provided in the 48 hours before arrival, the person who has provided it must provide evidence that they have done so if requested by an immigration officer.

(8) If passenger information changes or becomes available in the 10 days after arrival in Northern Ireland, the person who has provided it must, as soon as practicable, take all reasonable steps to update the passenger information on the Passenger Locator Form.

(9) Nothing in this regulation requires a person to provide any information if that information is not within their possession or control.

Textual Amendments

F1 Reg. 4(6A) inserted (1.10.2021) by The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel, Operator Liability and Information to Passengers) (Amendment No. 6) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021 (S.R. 2021/262), regs. 1(3), 4

Persons exempt from requirement to provide information N.I.

5.  Schedule 4 sets out the persons who are exempt from regulation 4.

Negative test result N.I.

Requirement to possess notification of negative test result N.I.

6.—(1) This regulation applies in respect of a person (P) who is—

(a) a red list arrival,

(b) an amber list arrival, or

(c) a green list arrival.

(2) This regulation does not apply if P is aged under 11.

(3) P must possess on arrival a valid notification of a negative result from a qualifying test.

(4) Where P is an adult, P must possess on arrival a valid notification of a negative result from a qualifying test taken by any child aged 11 or over for whom P has responsibility and with whom P is travelling.

(5) A test is a qualifying test if it complies with paragraph 1 of Schedule 5.

(6) A person who possesses a valid notification of a negative test result from a qualifying test must produce that notification physically or digitally, if required to do so by an immigration officer.

(7) A notification of a negative result is valid if it includes the information specified in paragraph 3 of Schedule 5.

(8) A child is to be treated as possessing valid notification of a negative test result from a qualifying test taken by that child even if that notification is possessed by a person who is travelling with, and has responsibility for, that child.

Persons exempt from requirement to possess notification of a negative test result N.I.

7.  Schedule 4 sets out the persons who are exempt from regulation 6.

Book and undertake tests N.I.

Requirement to book and undertake tests N.I.

8.—(1) This regulation applies in respect of a person (P) who is—

(a) a red list arrival,

(b) an amber list arrival, or

(c) a green list arrival.

(2) Where P is an adult, P must on arrival in Northern Ireland possess a testing package—

(a) for P, and

(b) for a child aged 5 or older for whom P has responsibility and with whom P is travelling.

(3) Where P is an adult who arrives in Northern Ireland without possessing a testing package required under paragraph (2), P must as soon as practicable obtain a testing package.

(4) Where P is a child aged 5 or older and is unaccompanied by an adult, then an adult who has responsibility for P must obtain a testing package as soon as practicable after P arrives in Northern Ireland.

(5) Subject to paragraph (6), where P—

(a) is an adult, they must undertake the tests in accordance with their testing package;

(b) is a child aged 5 or older, an adult with responsibility for P must, so far as reasonably practicable, ensure that P undertakes the tests in accordance with the testing package.

(6) Where P's day 2 test generates a positive result, P is not required to undertake a day 8 test.

(7) Where P does not undertake a test as required by this regulation by reason of a reasonable excuse (see regulation 25), P must, as soon as practicable after the matters giving rise to the reasonable excuse no longer apply, undertake a test (“a replacement test”) complying with the requirements that apply to the test that was missed.

(8) Where a replacement test is undertaken instead of—

(a) a day 2 test, P is to be treated as if they had undertaken a day 2 test in accordance with this regulation,

(b) a day 8 test, P is to be treated as if they had undertaken a day 8 test in accordance with this regulation.

(9) Schedule 6 makes further provision about day 2 and day 8 tests (including isolating if a test generates a positive result).

(10) A person who possesses a testing package must provide evidence of it if requested by an immigration officer or a constable.

(11) In this regulation—

“day 2 test” means a test which complies with paragraph 6 of Schedule 6 and is undertaken in the circumstances described in paragraph 8 of that Schedule,

“day 8 test” means a test which complies with paragraph 7 of Schedule 6 and is undertaken in the circumstances described in paragraph 8 of that Schedule,

“testing package” means—

(a)

in respect of a red list arrival or an amber list arrival, a booking for a day 2 test and a day 8 test where both tests are provided, or arranged to be provided, by the same test provider,

(b)

in respect of a green list arrival F2 ... , a booking for a day 2 test.

Textual Amendments

F2 Words in reg. 8(11)(b) revoked (2.8.2021 at 4.00 a.m.) by The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel, Operator Liability and Information to Passengers) (Amendment No. 4) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021 (S.R. 2021/225), regs. 1(2), 10(a)(i) (with reg. 11)

Persons exempt from requirement to book and undertake tests N.I.

9.  Schedule 4 sets out the persons who are exempt from regulation 8.

[F3 Workforce tests N.I.

Textual Amendments

F3 Reg. 9A and cross-heading inserted (2.8.2021 at 4.00 a.m.) by The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel, Operator Liability and Information to Passengers) (Amendment No. 4) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021 (S.R. 2021/225), regs. 1(2), 5(1) (with reg. 11)

Requirement to undertake workforce tests N.I.

9A.— (1) This paragraph applies in respect of a person (P) who is exempt, by virtue of one of the provisions of Part 2 of Schedule 4 set out in paragraph (2), from the requirement to book and undertake tests under regulation 8.

(2) Those provisions are—

(a) paragraph 14 (Crown servants (border work)),

(b) paragraph 15 (Crown servants (defence), armed forces, visiting forces),

(c) paragraph 17 (seamen and masters) other than seamen and masters of fishing vessels within the meaning of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995,

(d) paragraph 18 (pilots (maritime)),

(e) paragraph 19 (ship inspectors),

(f) paragraph 20 (air crew),

(g) paragraph 22 (road haulage workers),

(h) paragraph 34 (official repatriating a prisoner),

(i) paragraph 35 (official escorting extradition subject),

(j) paragraph 36 (foreign official collecting extradition subject),

(k) paragraph 42 (specialist aerospace engineer or worker),

(l) paragraph 49 (medical courier),

(m) paragraph 67 (seasonal agricultural worker).

(3) Subject to paragraphs (6) and (8)—

(a) where P is a green list arrival, P must undertake a workforce test for day 2,

(b) in all other cases, P must undertake a workforce test for day 2, day 5 and day 8.

(4) Where P does not undertake a workforce test as required by this regulation by reason of a reasonable excuse (see regulation 25A), P must, as soon as practicable after the matters giving rise to the reasonable excuse no longer apply, undertake a replacement workforce test.

(5) Where a replacement workforce test is undertaken instead of—

(a) a workforce test for day 2, P is to be treated as if P had undertaken a workforce test for day 2 in accordance with this regulation,

(b) a workforce test for day 5, P is to be treated as if P had undertaken a workforce test for day 5 in accordance with this regulation,

(c) a workforce test for day 8, P is to be treated as if P had undertaken a workforce test for day 8 in accordance with this regulation.

(6) Subject to paragraph (8), for any period during which P is a recurring work traveller, paragraph (3) does not apply and instead P must undertake a workforce test—

(a) before the end of the second day after the day P first arrives in Northern Ireland during the period during which P is a recurring work traveller, or as soon as reasonably practicable during the time P is next in Northern Ireland after the end of the second day,

(b) subsequently, within each successive period of three days, beginning with the day after the day on which P undertook the previous workforce test.

(7) P is a “recurring work traveller” where—

(a) P is undertaking work that requires P to enter and leave Northern Ireland on a daily basis, or at intervals of no greater than two days, and is entering and leaving accordingly, and

(b) P is not a road haulage worker, within the meaning of paragraph 22 of Schedule 4.

(8) Paragraphs (3) and (6) do not apply where—

(a) P is a person described in any of the following paragraphs of Part 2 of Schedule 4—

(i) paragraph 17 (seamen and masters),

(ii) paragraph 18 (pilots (maritime)),

(iii) paragraph 19 (ship inspectors),

(iv) paragraph 20 (air crew),

(b) P meets the exempt (no access to passengers condition) set out in paragraph 8(1) and (3) of Part 1 of Schedule 4, and

(c) P—

(i) does not disembark from or leave the conveyance on which P travelled to Northern Ireland at any time when the conveyance is moored at a port in Northern Ireland or is otherwise stationary in Northern Ireland, or

(ii) travelled to Northern Ireland on the same conveyance on which they left Northern Ireland and did not disembark from or leave that conveyance at any time when it was moored at a port in a country outside the common travel area or was otherwise stationary in such a country.

(9) In these Regulations—

(a) “a replacement workforce test” means a workforce test complying with the requirements that apply to the workforce test that was missed,

(b) “a workforce test” means a test for the detection of coronavirus which is provided or administered under the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972,

(c) “a workforce test for day 2” means a workforce test which is undertaken no later than the end of the second day after the day on which P arrived in Northern Ireland,

(d) “a workforce test for day 5” means a workforce test which is undertaken—

(i) after a workforce test for day 2,

(ii) no earlier than the end of the second day after the day on which P arrived in Northern Ireland, and

(iii) before the end of the fifth day after the day on which P arrived in Northern Ireland.

(e) “a workforce test for day 8” means a workforce test which is undertaken—

(i) after a workforce test for day 5,

(ii) no earlier than the end of the fourth day after the day on which P arrived in Northern Ireland, and

(iii) before the end of the eighth day after the day on which P arrived in Northern Ireland.

(10) Schedule 6A (workforce tests) makes further provision about workforce tests (including the consequences of testing).]

Self-isolation N.I.

Requirement to self-isolate N.I.

10.—(1) This regulation applies in respect of a person (P) who is an amber list arrival [F4 but who is not a fully vaccinated amber list arrival as described in regulation 3A] F5 ....

(2) P must enter into and remain in self-isolation from others in accordance with—

(a) regulations 10 to 13, and

(b) Schedule 6 (where that Schedule applies).

(3) P must, on their arrival in Northern Ireland, travel directly to the place at which they are to self-isolate, and must then self-isolate until whichever is the earlier of—

(a) the end of the 10th day after the day on which they arrive in the common travel area, or

(b) their departure from Northern Ireland.

(4) If P is a child, any person who has custody or charge of P during P's period of self-isolation must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that P self-isolates in accordance with these Regulations.

Textual Amendments

F4 Words in reg. 10(1) inserted (30.8.2021 at 4.00 a.m.) by The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (2021 Consolidation) (Amendment No. 6) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021 (S.R. 2021/241), regs. 1(1), 3

F5 Words in reg. 10(1) revoked (2.8.2021 at 4.00 a.m.) by The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel, Operator Liability and Information to Passengers) (Amendment No. 4) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021 (S.R. 2021/225), regs. 1(2), 10(a)(ii) (with reg. 11)

Limitations to, and exceptions from, requirement to self-isolate N.I.

11.—(1) This regulation sets out the limitations to, and exceptions from, the requirement to self-isolate for a person (P).

(2) Regulation 10 does not require P to remain in self-isolation—

(a) from any person with whom they were travelling when they arrived in Northern Ireland and who is also self-isolating in the place where P is self-isolating,

(b) where P is self-isolating in their home, from any member of their household,

(c) where P is self-isolating in the home of a friend or family member, from any member of the household of that friend or family member,

(d) from any person who is staying in the place where P is self-isolating whose assistance P reasonably requires by reason of—

(i) P being a child, or

(ii) any disability of P's,

(e) where P leaves, or is outside of, the place where P is self-isolating for the purposes of, or connected with, undertaking a test in accordance with Schedule 6, from any person whose assistance P reasonably requires in order to undertake the test, by reason of—

(i) P being a child, or

(ii) any disability of P's.

(3) Regulation 10 does not require P to remain in isolation from a person (V) when V is at the place where P is self-isolating—

(a) to provide emergency assistance,

(b) to provide care or assistance, including personal care within the meaning of paragraph 1(1B) or 7(3B) of Schedule 2 to the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2007 M1 , to P or to any other person who is living in the place where P is self-isolating,

(c) to provide medical assistance including to provide any of the services mentioned in paragraph (4)(b), to P or to any other person who is living in the place where P is self-isolating, where this is required urgently or on the advice of a registered medical practitioner,

(d) to provide veterinary services, where this is required urgently or on the advice of a veterinary surgeon,

(e) to provide critical public services, including those mentioned in paragraph (4)(i).

(4) During the period of their self-isolation, P may not leave, or be outside of, the place where P is self-isolating except—

(a) to travel in order to leave Northern Ireland, provided that they do so directly, but this is subject to paragraphs 4 and 5 of Schedule 6 (consequences of positive test result),

(b) to seek medical assistance, where this is required urgently or on the advice of a registered medical practitioner, including to access services from dentists, opticians, audiologists, chiropodists, chiropractors, osteopaths and other medical or health practitioners, including services relating to mental health,

(c) to access veterinary services where this is required urgently or on the advice of a veterinary surgeon,

(d) to fulfil a legal obligation, including attending court or satisfying bail conditions, or to participate in legal proceedings,

(e) to avoid injury or illness or to escape a risk of harm,

(f) on compassionate grounds including to attend a funeral of—

(i) a member of P's household,

(ii) a close family member, or

(iii) if no-one within sub-paragraphs (i) or (ii) are attending, a friend,

(g) to move to a different place for self-isolation specified on a Passenger Locator Form completed by or in respect of P,

(h) in exceptional circumstances such as—

(i) to obtain basic necessities such as food and medical supplies for those in the same household (including any pets or animals in the household) where it is not possible to obtain these provisions in any other manner,

(ii) to move to a different place for self-isolation where it becomes impracticable to remain at the address at which they are self-isolating,

(i) to access critical public services, including—

(i) social services,

(ii) services provided to victims (such as victims of crime),

(j) in the case of a minister of religion or worship leader, to go to their place of worship alone provided they will be there alone,

(k) to take exercise alone or with members of P's household,

(l) to visit a burial ground to pay respects to a member of P's household, family member or friend provided they are doing so alone,

(m) for the purposes of, or connected with, undertaking a test in accordance with Schedule 6.

Marginal Citations

M1 2007 S.I. 1351 (N.I. 11)

Place where a person must self-isolate N.I.

12.—(1) This regulation sets out the place where a person (P) must self-isolate.

(2) P must self-isolate at the address specified in P's Passenger Locator Form, but this is subject to the other provisions of this regulation.

(3) Where it is not possible for P to self-isolate in accordance with paragraph (2), P must self-isolate in accommodation facilitated by the United Kingdom Government for the purposes of P's self-isolation.

(4) Where P is an asylum seeker, P must self-isolate in accommodation provided or arranged under section 4, 95 or 98 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 M2 .

(5) Where P is a person described in paragraph 9(1) of the Schedule 10 to the Immigration Act 2016 M3 (powers of Secretary of State to enable person to meet bail conditions), P must self-isolate in accommodation provided or arranged under that paragraph.

(6) The address specified by P in the Passenger Locator Form must be—

(a) their home,

(b) the home of a friend or family member, or

(c) a hotel, hostel, bed and breakfast accommodation or other suitable place.

(7) Where P has not specified an address on a Passenger Locator Form where they intend to self-isolate, they must self-isolate at a place described in paragraph (6)(a) to (c).

(8) More than one address may be specified as the place at which P intends to self-isolate in the Passenger Locator Form, where—

(a) a legal obligation requires P to change addresses, or

(b) it is necessary for P to stay overnight at an address on their arrival in Northern Ireland before travelling directly to another address at which they will be self-isolating.

(9) The place referred to this in regulation includes the premises where P is self-isolating together with any garden, yard, passage, stair, garage, outhouse or other appurtenance of the premises.

Marginal Citations

M2 1999 c. 33. Section 4 was amended by section 49 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (c. 41), by section 10(1) of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 (c. 19), by section 43(7) of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 (c. 13), and by paragraph 1 of Schedule 11 to the Immigration Act 2016 (c. 19). Section 95 was amended by section 50(1) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and by paragraph 29 of Schedule 10 to the Immigration Act 2016

M3 2016 c. 19

Persons exempt from requirement to self-isolate N.I.

13.  Schedule 4 sets out the persons who are exempt from regulation 10.

Managed isolation N.I.

Requirement to comply with managed isolation N.I.

14.—(1) This regulation applies in respect of a person (P) who is a red list arrival.

(2) Schedule 7 sets out the requirement to comply with managed isolation, along with additional measures, applying in respect of P.

Persons exempt from the requirement to comply with managed isolation N.I.

15.  Schedule 4 sets out the persons who are exempt from regulation 14.