On 17th March 2021, European Commission (EC) proposed to create a Digital Green Certificate that will 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 Digital Green 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.
- The certificates will be issued in a digital form or on paper. Both will have 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. No personal data of the certificate holders passes through the gateway, or is retained by the verifying Member State.
- The certificates will be available free of charge and in the official language or languages of the issuing Member State and English.
- Non-discrimination - All people – vaccinated and non-vaccinated – should benefit from a Digital Green Certificate when travelling in the EU.
Airlines are resisting the European Union's amitious 'Digital Green Certificate' plans as EC wants to push some of the costs and responsibility on airlines for implementing vaccination passports onto the aviation industry.
“Vaccines are what is going to ultimately allow us to start recovering as an industry,” said Olivier Jankovec, director general of Airports Council International Europe, a trade body of airports. “It’s what is going to allow Europeans to be mobile again.”
U.S is slowly opening up to the air travel, as CDC being lenient on friday said, people who are fully vaccinated against the new coronavirus can travel without serious risk.
The EU plan is still in flux, but governments are fast-tracking the project for a mid-June rollout. The basic concept: Europeans who are vaccinated will be issued a certificate, either paper or electronic, with a bar code that can be scanned at airports to verify vaccination.
Airlines battered by pandemic want the goverment to take the responsibility or finance part of it , while EC wants greater participation of airlines to make it's 'Digital Green Certificate' a success !
Pictures : European Commission (EC).
