Belgian police wrote up 38 reports in August to persons who failed to fill in passenger locator forms, (PLFs), after trips abroad of more than 48 hours.
“We mainly issue warnings to people, but the number of infractions is increasingly lower,” the Federal Police said.
The forms have been compulsory since 1 August. Last month 1.4 million of them were submitted, about 376,000 by persons returning from so-called red zones and 64,836 from orange zones.
People returning from red zones face a mandatory quarantine and coronavirus test, and they are recommended on return from an orange zone.
Related News
- Coronavirus: Almost 50,000 people returned to Belgium from red zones in August
- Over 200,000 returning travellers' forms collected in four days
Since early August, traffic, railway and air-traffic police have been making random checks on returning travellers.
"The number of infractions committed by travellers returning by car has been going down and is now close to zero,” said Jonathan Pfund of the Federal Police.
“The rules are also being very well respected in train stations and airports. It is up to companies to remind passengers to fill in this form. If they fail to do so, they, too, risk being sanctioned.”
The most common “infractions” are due to oversights, such as families who fill in a single form instead of one per person. In such cases, tickets are not issued but each defaulter is asked to correctly fill in the form on the spot.
The Brussels Times
