TOURISM LAW AND COMPETITION – A PORTUGUESE PERSPECTIVE 445 third-country nationals were unable to travel to the Schengen area for non- -essential purposes, with the inherent impact on tourism. Although restrictions under the Schengen Borders Code79 should be considered and used as a measure of last resort in case there is a serious threat to public policy or internal security, some countries still had border restrictions at least until the end of July 2020, such as Denmark, in terms of all internal borders, Finland, regarding the borders with Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg, Poland, France, Sweden and Czechia, Lithuania, regarding internal air and sea borders and Norway in terms of all internal borders80. The subsequent evolution of the pandemic situation throughout the EU and in third countries has resulted in different degrees and paces of restrictions for circulation and movement between countries and even within the same country. And this apparently has not changed in the subsequent “COVID 19 waves” and the sanitary measures adopted at national level to combat the pandemics. Considering that the functioning of the Schengen area and the free movement of persons is vital for the economy of the EU, and irrespective of its merits from a sanitary perspective, complete lockdown has had a massive impact in competition. And circumstance dictates that it remains a prerogative of the Member States (and not a European Union competence). One of the most affected sectors is tourism by the insufficient coordination and harmonisation of public measures, where recovery is highly dependent on the opening of borders between Member States and resuming, with no constraints, air and maritime travel. This is especially true for countries like Portugal, where, according to public information, the tourism sector was the country’s largest export economic activity in 2019. And particularly for the situation in the ORs by their very geographic situation. Amidst the numerous sources estimating the impact of this lockdown’s uneven progressive way of coming out of confinement and the prospective analysis of future developments, we refer hereunder to some relevant ones. 79 Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016, as amended, on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders, available at: https://eur-lex. europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02016R0399-20190611. 80 Please note that these dates are constantly changing due to developments. See note In line with the sanitary measures adopted by countries outside the EU, in March 2020 EU Member States temporarily reintroduced external, internal, terrestrial, air and sea border controls due to the COVID-19 pandemic and EU external borders. On 15 April 2020, the Commission in cooperation with the President of the European Council has put forward a European roadmap to phase-out the containment measures. However, the way they were lifted was more gradual and remained effective until the end of June. This meant that third-country nationals were unable to travel to the Schengen area for non-essential purposes, with the inherent impact on tourism. above.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==