The European Parliament approved the Covid certificate for travel within the European Union

In search of reviving tourism, the Eurochambre approved the launch of the European Union’s Covid certificate, which will allow travel unrestricted within the community space from July 1, provided you are vaccinated against the coronavirus, have antibodies or present a negative test.

This is a free certificate, which will be issued in digital or physical format and will have the basic information about the medical situation of its holder vis-à-vis the Covid-19, while avoiding the exchange of protected data and guaranteeing the veracity of the information collected.

In addition, the EU institutions made it clear during the negotiation process that this certificate It should in no way be understood as a kind of passport or travel document, because it does not infringe the right to free movement.

Its launch across the European Union is announced for July 1, although there are already a dozen countries that issue European certificates to their vaccinated citizens.

In this sense, the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, urged this Tuesday to start distributing them “now” to avoid a “big bang”, product of excessive demand, and last minute technical issues.

The 27 countries of the bloc have promised not to impose “additional restrictions“to travelers who have this certificate, which means that they will be exempt from the obligation to comply with quarantines or to carry out a new test on arrival at the destination of the trip.

Meanwhile, national governments have reserved the right to activate a “emergency break“with which they can reintroduce restrictions in an emergency, for example if the person is traveling from an area with very high circulation of the virus or from where new dangerous strains have been detected.

In this case, the Member State which decides to reintroduce measures must do so in a proportionate and limited manner, following the scientific criteria and epidemiological data of the European Center for Disease Prevention (ECDC), in addition to sending a notification prior to the European Commission Commission, its EU partners and the public.

The European Parliament, which approved this instrument with a large majority With 546 votes in favor, 93 against and 51 abstentions, she tried in vain during negotiations with the Member States to make diagnostic tests linked to the certificate free, to avoid discrimination between citizens who are vaccinated for free and those who have to pay. a fee. PCR to be able to travel.

On the other hand, EU countries will have the obligation to accept vaccination certificates issued in other Member States for vaccines authorized by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), although they are free to also accept those issued for vaccines authorized according to national procedures or on the list of the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use.

After the favorable vote in the plenary session of the European Parliament, meeting in Strasbourg, France, for the first time since the pandemic was declared in Europe, the certificate has yet to comply with the formal adoption by the Council throughout this week, with the goal that its completion will be signed next Monday.

With agency information

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