Prohibition of Entering Argentine Territory and New Transport conditions

In order to prevent the spread of Covid-19, and based on the measures adopted by the Government to protect public health, the National Executive Branch issued a new decree of necessity and urgency -DNU No. 274/20- prohibiting the entry into the country of non-resident foreigners through any airport, port, international passage or border center, for a period of 15 calendar days, which may be extended or shortened by the Ministry of the Interior.

 

The National Directorate of Migration was authorized to make exceptions to meet particular circumstances. Thus, for example, after the initial publication of this article, the National Directorate of Migration issued Provision No. 1709/2020, exempting from the prohibition on entry foreigners who enter the country for the sole purpose of continuing their journey to another country, provided that certain conditions set out therein are met. To this end, it provided that foreigners must do so only through the health corridor that is established in each case, according to the circumstances of the case, and provided that they are asymptomatic, show the confirmed departure ticket, and comply with the recommendations and instructions provided by the national health authority.

 

In order to allow the normal supply of essential inputs, the new Decree clarifies that the prohibition of entry and the obligation to comply with the compulsory isolation corresponding to Section 7 of Decree No. 260/2020 does not apply to persons engaged in the transfer of goods on international trade operations of transport of cargo by air, land, sea, river and lake; carriers and crew members of ships and aircraft; and persons engaged in the operation of flights and sanitary transfers.

 

In all cases except for these, it must be verified that the mentioned persons are asymptomatic and comply with the health recommendations, both inside and outside the country.

 

Finally, the decree instructs the Ministries of the Interior; Transport; Security; Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship; Health; Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries; and the tax authority to adopt the necessary implementation measures.

 

With regard to air transport, the Ministry of Transport informed the National Civil Aviation Administration (the “ANAC”, after its acronym in Spanish) that, in relation to the temporary suspension of flights established in Decree No. 260/2020, air operations to the affected countries must be authorized up to and including March 16. As of March 17, 2020 and until the deadline set by the suspension, only Aerolineas Argentinas S.A. will be authorized to carry out the transfer operations to and from the affected countries. As for the crews, the Ministry of Health, together with the Ministry of Transport, will authorize the return of those who do not present symptoms, prior health control.

 

Yesterday, this Ministry authorized the ANAC to provide for the relevant exceptions to the suspension of international air passenger transport services provided for by Decree No. 260/2020 under the terms of Section 17 of the Aviation Code. It also clarified that, in the absence of restrictions on the departure of aircraft, such authorization may include international air transport services for the departure of non-residents.

 

On the other hand, in a press conference held today (March 17), the Minister of Transport, Mario Meoni, announced that trains and long-distance buses as well as domestic flights will operate normally until March 19, 2020 at midnight. From then on, operations will be totally suspended until March 25. At the time of publishing this article, no rules have been published on this regard.

 

On the other hand, the Ministry of Transport established the essential conditions of hygiene in land and sea transport by means of Resolution No. 60/2020. 

 

Among the main measures adopted by the Resolution, three Covid-19 Crisis Prevention Committees were created for Railway Transport, for Automotive Transport and for River, Sea and Lake Transport. The latter is within the Undersecretariat of Ports, Waterways and Merchant Navy. These Committees shall be composed of the different actors of each of the sectors involved, including the service providers, representative chambers of the sectors, the trade associations and any other entity or person with competence in the matter.

 

The functions of the Committees are to disseminate information to users of the transport system, provide knowledge about prevention measures, train personnel in the different areas, request the collaboration of transport service providers to promote the detection and management of cases, coordinate work with local institutions that are affected to the care of patients, and apply all the measures it considers appropriate and necessary to comply with the Resolution. 

 

The measure also establishes the obligation of the Operators of Automotive, Railway, Maritime, River and Lake Transportation Services subject to National Jurisdiction, to increase actions aimed at maintaining the essential hygiene conditions of vehicles, rolling stock and vessels in service. The same actions are extended to the bus, railway, railroad and port terminal stations.

 

Likewise, the Resolution establishes that the Operators, Concessionaires and/or providers of the mentioned transport services must disseminate the posters and/or information provided by the Ministry of Health. In the event that the vehicles, rolling stock or vessels have audiovisual equipment, they must play at the beginning of each journey the video or recording provided by the National Commission for Transport Regulation or the Undersecretariat of Ports, Waterways and Merchant Navy, as appropriate. This video or audio must also be transmitted in the bus terminals, railways, railroad and port. 

 

Furthermore, Cargo Transport Operators are required to implement prevention measures and actions aimed at the care of service personnel.   

 

Finally, on March 14 the Ministry of Transport communicated to the General Administration of Ports the recommendations informed by the Ministry of Health. These recommendations consist mainly of restricting the disembarkation of persons with no symptoms who have transited in the last 14 days in affected countries and/or quarantining the vessel when there is at least one symptomatic person who has transited in affected countries, or who is a suspect case. For those asymptomatic persons who have not transited in the past 14 days, disembarkation is recommended.