Location / Venue / Travel

The 39th Congress of the ESCRS will take place at the RAI Congress Centre, Amsterdam from 8-11 October 2021.

Venue

RAI Amsterdam Congress Centre
Europaplein 24
1078 GZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Getting there

More information on how to get there can be viewed here.

Additional information can be viewed here.

For helpful information about the status of COVID restrictions in the EU & Schengen zone as well as a convenient way to understand requirements for travel within the EU / Schengen area and from some third countries, please visit Re-open EU.

Important Information for Face-to-Face attendance in Amsterdam

ESCRS’s Duty of Care to Participants

In the interests of the health & safety of all attendees, event personnel, and the broader community, the Congress Venue (RAI) and ESCRS apply the local and national rules which, as at today, require that any individual has to provide one of the following in order to access the congress venue in Amsterdam:

•    Valid (negative) test certificate OR
•    Valid vaccination certificate OR
•    Valid recovery certificate

Disclaimer: Entry will be refused to any person not compliant with at least one of the above-mentioned certificates. No reimbursement of paid fees will be made to participants.

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ESCRS 2021 REGISTERED PARTICIPANTS AND INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVES

Travel to The Netherlands

The entry conditions and travel recommendations can be seen on the official checklist of the Dutch Government.

A distinction is being made between:

  • Entering or returning from the EU/Schengen area with countries listed as “safe” and countries listed as high-risk areas; In general, there is no travel ban travelling from these countries and no quarantine is required. Since the situation is changing on a very regular basis, please make sure you regularly check the link above.
  • Entering or returning from OUTSIDE the EU/Schengen area with countries listed as:
    • “safe” areas; In general, there is no travel ban travelling from these countries and no quarantine is required. Since the situation is changing on a very regular basis, please make sure you regularly check the link above.
    • “high risk” areas;
    • “high risk“ areas with a virus variant of concern

FOR BOTH “HIGH RISK” AREAS, TRAVEL BANS AND MANDATORY QUARANTINE APPLY.
Since the situation is changing on a very regular basis, please make sure you regularly check the link above.

EXEMPTIONS:

For “high risk” areas, exemptions are listed as follows:

The Dutch government excepts a number of exemptions to the:

Above travel ban
(i) Travel ban exemption for fully vaccinated travelers – There is an exception for a traveler from a high-risk area without a variant of concern, provided this traveler is fully vaccinated. This exemption does not apply for travelers from high risk areas with a variant of concern (see the following link for more information).
(ii) Travel ban exemption for business travelers – The most likely acceptable exemption to the ban for travel is the exemption for a “business traveler as defined in the framework for applying the exemption for business travelers”, which exemption requires, among others, a personal invitation from a Dutch private or public sector party (see the following link for more information).

Above quarantine obligation
(i) Quarantine exemption for significant contributions the Dutch economy – The most likely acceptable exemption to the quarantine obligation is the exemption which requires a “significant contribution to the Dutch economy”, which exemption requires, among others, a personal invitation from a Dutch private or public sector party.

Countries on the list of high risk areas with a virus variant of concern additionally need a diplomatic note issued by a Dutch embassy stating that they fall under an exemption to the entry ban (see the following link for more information).

For the above purposes, the RAI Amsterdam (congress venue) is willing to provide the necessary invitation with an explanation regarding the event’s contribution to the Dutch economy. This invitation can be downloaded here.
Please complete it with your name where necessary on the pdf and print this document! Make sure you write your name as it would appear on your Passport and as it would appear on your Covid-19 certificate (vaccination / recovery / test).

For your travel to the Netherlands to attend ESCRS 2021, please make sure you have a printed copy of the following:

 

PREPARE YOUR TRAVEL TO AMSTERDAM!
This is applicable for travelers from high-risk countries outside the EU/Schengen area.

 

FULLY VACCINATED TRAVELLERS:

Fully vaccinated travelers from countries outside the EU / Schengen, designated as a very high-risk area (including the UK and US), need five things for travelling to the Netherlands as per September 22:

  1. PASSPORT
  2. HEALTH DECLARATION FORM: All travelers aged 13 or older who are flying from and to the Netherlands must carry a health declaration. Please klick here for the instructions and documents.
  3. PROOF OF VACCINATION & VACCINE DECLARATION FORM: There are travel restrictions for travelers from (very) high-risk areas to the Netherlands. However, if a traveler is fully vaccinated, he is exempt from the EU travel ban and welcome in the Netherlands without having to quarantine upon arrival. For the traveler it is important to bring a proof of vaccination and vaccine declaration form to the event, so that the traveler can be exempted from the travel restrictions. If a traveler is not (fully) vaccinated, please refer to “Not fully vaccinated travelers” paragraph below.
  4. NEGATIVE COVID TEST: To enter the Netherlands from a (very) high-risk area, a traveler needs either a negative PCR test result from less than 48 hours before departure or a negative antigen test result from less than 24 hours before.
  5. QUARANTINE DECLARATION FORM: A traveler needs to complete a quarantine declaration form, which can be printed and must be taken during travelling. The instruction to the traveler is: please tick the box that indicates that you fall into an exemption category. In the exemption category box, the traveler can write “Significant contribution to Dutch economy” and in the supporting document box “Letter of invitation from a Dutch business.” Nothing else is required in section 2 or 3.

 

NOT (FULLY) VACCINATED TRAVELLERS:

Not (fully) vaccinated travelers from countries outside the EU / Schengen, designated as a very high-risk area (including the UK and US), need six things for travelling to the Netherlands as per September 22:

  1.  PASSPORT
  2. HEALTH DECLARATION FORM: All travelers aged 13 or older who are flying from and to the Netherlands must carry a health declaration. Please klick here for the instructions and documents.
  3. NEGATIVE COVID TEST: To enter the Netherlands from a (very) high-risk area, a traveler needs either a negative PCR test result from less than 48 hours before departure or a negative antigen test result from less than 24 hours before.
  4. LETTER OF INVITATION: There are travel restrictions for not (fully) vaccinated travelers from very high-risk areas to the Netherlands (such as a travel ban and a quarantine obligation). If a traveler is not fully vaccinated, he may qualify for a business travel exemption to these travel restrictions with a letter of invitation from RAI.
  5. DIPLOMATIC NOTE: To enter the Netherlands on the basis of the business travel exemption, the traveler must have a diplomatic note issued by a Dutch embassy stating that he falls under an exemption to the entry ban.
  6. QUARANTINE DECLARATION FORM: A traveler needs to complete a quarantine declaration form, which can be printed and must be taken during travelling. The instruction to the traveler is: please tick the box that indicates that you fall into an exemption category. In the exemption category box, the traveler can write “Significant contribution to Dutch economy” and in the supporting document box “Letter of invitation from a Dutch business.” Nothing else is required in section 2 or 3.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: The information on the website of the Dutch government does not yet reflect the above information. Until September 22 the available information is based on the situation that applies until September 22 – without the relaxations of measures as announced.

You can download a pdf of the above information here.

The above necessary steps were put in place to allow for a smooth F2F participation at the ESCRS 2021 congress in Amsterdam this year. We do however underline, that no warranty can be expressed as to each individual travel case. The Dutch governmental regulations prevail, and neither ESCRS nor the Organisers of ESCRS 2021 or RAI can be held responsible for decisions made by the Dutch government.