Brussels sets out plan for EU coronavirus passport

Coronavirus vaccine – Photo © European Union

(BRUSSELS) – The European Commission put forward a plan for a coronavirus passport Wednesday, a ‘digital green certificate’ to facilitate safe free movement inside the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Digital Green Certificate will be a proof that a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19, received a negative test result or recovered from COVID-19. It will be available, free of charge, in digital or paper format. It will include a QR code to ensure security and authenticity of the certificate. The Commission will build a gateway to ensure all certificates can be verified across the EU, and support Member States in the technical implementation of certificates. Member States remain responsible to decide which public health restrictions can be waived for travellers but will have to apply such waivers in the same way to travellers holding a Digital Green Certificate.

“The Digital Green Certificate offers an EU-wide solution to ensure that EU citizens benefit from a harmonised digital tool to support free movement in the EU,” said EC vice-president Vera Jourová: “This is a good message in support of recovery. Our key objectives are to offer an easy to use, non-discriminatory and secure tool that fully respects data protection.”

The certificate will cover three types of certificates vaccination certificates, test certificates (NAAT/RT-PCR test or a rapid antigen test), and certificates for persons who have recovered from COVID-19. It will be issued in digital form or on paper, both with a QR code that contains necessary key information as well as a digital signature to make sure the certificate is authentic.

The Commission will build a gateway and support Member States to develop software that authorities can use to verify all certificate signatures across the EU – with no personal data passing through the gateway, or retained by the verifying Member State.

It will be free of charge.

To prevent discrimination against those who are not vaccinated, there would also be COVID-19 test certificates and certificates for persons who have recovered from COVID-19.

Same right for travellers with the Digital Green Certificate where Member States accept proof of vaccination to waive certain public health restrictions such as testing or quarantine, they would be required to accept, under the same conditions, vaccination certificates issued under the Digital Green Certificate system. This obligation would be limited to vaccines that have received EU-wide marketing authorisation, but Member States can decide to accept other vaccines in addition.

The certificates will include a limited set of information such as name, date of birth, date of issuance, relevant information about vaccine/test/recovery and a unique identifier of the certificate. The data can be checked only to confirm and verify the authenticity and validity of certificates.

The ‘digital green certificate’ will be valid in all EU Member States and open for Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway as well as Switzerland. It would be issued to EU citizens and their family, regardless of nationality, and issued to non-EU nationals who reside in the EU and to visitors who have the right to travel to other Member States.

The Commission says this is a temporary measure, which would be suspended once the World Health Organization (WHO) declares the end of the COVID-19 international health emergency.