Dear clients,

from Monday, November 9, 2020, a new emergency measure of the Ministry of Health will be effective (full text available here).

In particular, the de facto extension of the obligation to test foreign employees will be crucial for employers. The measure imposes an "old-new obligation"

• employers and end-users of workers who are nationals of countries not on the list of countries with a low risk of COVID-19 or who are nationals of countries with * who have resided for more than 12 hours in the last 14 days in those countries - entry of these persons to all establishments and workplaces of the employer, is prohibited unless these persons simultaneously submit to the employer or end user for whom they perform a negative RT-PCR test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 from the territory of the Czech Republic.

It is the list of countries with a low risk of infection that is undergoing major changes and will include only a minimum of countries - of the European countries, only Estonia and the Vatican (full text available here). Employees from all countries not listed or marked with an asterisk will be required to test for coronavirus.

An exceptional measure provides for an exception for cross-border workers who regularly cross the state border with the Czech Republic to or from a neighboring state at least once a week.

Although the exception is formulated very unhappily in the measure, the information provided by the MZČR shows that the interpretation should be that this exception applies not only to the obligation to report upon arrival from a high-risk KHS country, but also to the employer's obligation to require negative tests.

Therefore, if your employees (from neighboring countries) commute from their place of residence abroad to work at least once a week (they regularly cross the border once a week) you have no obligation to require negative tests from these workers.

Should you have any queries about the above-mentioned, we, of course, remain available for you.