A uniform traffic light system is intended to simplify travel within the European Union in the future. After lengthy discussions, the governments of the member states agreed on the proposal of the EU Commission. It won't get any easier, however, because with regard to the exact entry requirements, each nation state continues to cook its own soup.

What is a risk area and what is not should in future be defined uniformly within the European Union. For example, Germany has so far only used the number of cases per 100.000 inhabitants, but does not take into account the number of tests or the utilization of the respective health system. That is exactly what is about to change now.

A traffic light, which consists of the familiar colors red, yellow and green, will in future evaluate countries and regions according to uniform criteria. If this shows the green signal, travel is possible without any restrictions or test certificates. It is expressly emphasized that not only the number of infections per 100.000 inhabitants are used in the assessment, but also the number of tests carried out, the percentage positive rate, the utilization of the respective national health system and other criteria.

The binding implementation is to be published in the next few days. In particular, the definitions of the individual traffic light colors and the options that can then be set by the nation states are to be published. What is certain is that anyone who wants to travel from green to green does not need any proof. If the traffic light shows yellow, a negative PCR test could be requested or a quick test could be carried out. In a red light, quarantine could bloom. However: According to the current state of information, the nation states could demand isolation even with yellow.

The formal decision is to be made on Tuesday in the course of the meeting of the ministers in charge of the department. When the new system will be implemented is still completely open. In any case, EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said that any entry restrictions such as the obligation to present negative PCR tests would then have to be "announced in good time by the governments". It is also questionable whether the EU-wide regulation will have any effects on the German forced quarantine, which is to come into force on October 15, 2020.

In any case, it is certain that Switzerland will not take part in the EU Corona traffic light. As a result, the respective national regulations and those of Switzerland will continue to apply in connection with the Confederation.