EU digital vaccination card
With the summer approaching, the question of how to exercise the right to free movement within the European Union is a growing concern.
On 17 March 2021, the European Commission proposed the creation of a digital vaccination card to facilitate the safe and free movement of citizens within the European Union during the Covid19 pandemic. Subsequently, in April, the European Parliament voted in favour of the draft of the EU vaccine passport. On 20 May 2021, the provisional agreement between the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council on the issues related to the passport was reached. The European Parliament will vote on the agreement in its June plenary session. The Council of Ministers of the Member States will then take the final decision. The planned timetable for the entry into force of the vaccine passport, officially called the EU Digital Covid Certificate, is 1 July.
Member States still have to prepare for the logistical introduction of the card and make the necessary changes to their health record systems, which should take a maximum of 6 weeks once the EU regulation is adopted by the Council. According to the plans, national and EU ID cards would then coexist, and once this period has expired, the former would be abolished.
The digital vaccination card will prove that its owner:
- received a Covid19 vaccine,
- tested negative for the virus,
- recovered from Covid19
The card will be available in paper or digital format. A common set of EU rules will allow a card issued in one EU country to be accepted in another.
The EU Digital Covid Certificate regulation is expected to be in force for 12 months. Possession of the card will not be a condition for exercising the right to free movement and the card will not be considered a travel document. The Commission has emphasized that the purpose of the certificate is to determine whether a person can be exempted from temporary restrictions to reduce the spread of the virus during travel, such as testing on arrival and quarantine afterwards.
Although Member States have agreed not to restrict the free movement of holders of cards by imposing entry conditions such as quarantine, the agreement allows them to introduce restrictive measures at their discretion if the epidemic situation so requires.
Vaccines
Member States must accept certificates of vaccination with vaccines authorised by the European Medicines Agency (currently Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson). It is up to each Member State to decide whether to accept a certificate of vaccination with a vaccine authorised by another Member State in its own procedure or on the World Health Organisation (WHO) list of vaccines with emergency authorisation (e.g. Sinopharm vaccine).
Testing
In order to avoid discrimination against the unvaccinated and for economic reasons, Member States should provide timely and free testing facilities accessible to all. In order to this, the European Commission has committed to spend at least €100 million from the EU's Emergency Aid Instrument to purchase tests to detect SARS-Co V-2 infection. These tests can only be used for the issuance of the coronavirus certificate.
Data handling issues
The digital vaccination card will contain the most important required information, such as name, date of birth, date of issue, relevant information about the vaccination/testing/cure and a unique identifier. These health data cannot be kept by the visited countries and remain only in the handling of the issuing Member State. Only the validity and authenticity of the card can be checked, for which the issuer and signature will be verified. An additional data protection guarantee is that for each vaccination, test or cure, a separate independent card must be issued, which does not show the cardholder's history of previous cards.
The issuing of the card will be the responsibility of national authorities: it can be issued by hospitals, testing centres or other health authorities.
The digital version will be available on mobile devices. Citizens can also request a printed version. Both will have a QR code with basic information and a digital stamp to ensure the authenticity of the card.