French people living abroad and not vaccinated will no longer be obliged to present a compelling reason to return to France if they come from countries classified red or orange, decided on Friday January 28, the Council of State. This obligation had been imposed on them in July in an article of a decree canceled by the highest administrative court.
The article in question (23-1 of the decree of 1is June 2021 modified on July 30) “is canceled in that it imposes on French nationals who are not vaccinated” to justify a compelling reason, an urgent health reason or a professional reason that cannot be deferred.
PCR or antigen test less than 48 hours old
The Council of State justifies its decision as follows:
“This requirement is likely (…) to pose a lasting obstacle to the exercise of the fundamental right to return to the national territory available to all French people, without the health benefit of such a measure being manifestly such as to justify the infringement which is thus brought to this right. »
The website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stipulates that all travelers outside the European Union (EU), whether vaccinated or not, must present the result of a negative PCR or antigen test, carried out less than forty-eight hours before leaving.
Any traveler over the age of 11 must also “to accept that a biological screening test or examination (…) can be carried out upon arrival in the national territory” and “commit to respecting voluntary isolation for seven days following arriving in France” by carrying out a new test at the end of this period.
