Brussels proposes digital green certificate
EU citizens will be able to get a standardised document attesting they cannot transmit the coronavirus
Eugen Coroianu, 18.03.2021, 13:50
On Wednesday, the European Commission proposed to create an electronic green certificate to facilitate safe and free movement within the European Union during the coronavirus pandemic.
The certificate will prove that the holder has either received a vaccine, or has tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 infection, or has had the disease and recovered. The document will be available free of charge, in digital or paper format, and will include a QR code to ensure security and authenticity. The European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean from Romania, explained in a TV statement:
Adina Valean: What the Commission tries to do is propose an EU-wide regulation, which means a compulsory standard, rather than a voluntary one. This regulation will unify the various types of information. There will be only one digital green certificate, issued in the same way in all Member States, which may be checked easily at border crossing, and obviously designed to also counter the possible fraud types that we see emerging already.
She emphasised however that no country may deny the access of non-vaccinated citizens. The Digital Green Certificate will not be a pre-condition to free movement and it will not discriminate in any way, the EU Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said in turn.
The Commission will create a gateway and support Member States to develop software that authorities can use to verify all certificate signatures across the EU. No personal data of the certificate holders passes through the gateway, or is retained by the verifying Member State.
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. They will be valid for all EU Member States and open for Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway as well as Switzerland. The new documents should also be issued to non-EU nationals who reside in the EU and to visitors who have the right to travel to other Member States.
Member States remain free to accept proof of vaccination to waive certain public health restrictions such as testing or quarantine, and they would be required to accept, under the same conditions, the documents issued under the Digital Green Certificate system. In order to be ready by summer, the Commissions proposal needs to be endorsed quickly by the European Parliament and Council. The measure is temporary, and will be suspended once the World Health Organization (WHO) declares the end of the COVID-19 international health emergency. (tr. A.M. Popescu)
