Residents of seven EU countries - Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark,
Germany, Greece, Croatia and Poland – can now start using digital
Covid certificates issued by the bloc ahead of its full
rollout on 1 July following the launch of the technical gateway that manages the certificates at a European level.
The certificates are issued free of charge and available in digital format or
on paper and provide proof that a person has been vaccinated against Covid-19,
tested negative, or recovered from an infection.
All EU member states which have passed the technical tests and are ready
to issue and verify certificates and the seven countries have decided to
connect to the newly launched gateway and started issuing the first certificates.
Other countries will join in the coming days and weeks.
The EU’s commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, said: “The
go-live of the gateway is an important step which will allow member states to
start using the gateway and start issuing EU digital Covid certificates. Seven member
states is a good start. I encourage others to follow as soon as possible. The
timely preparation will allow the full system to be up and running by 1 July –
when the proposal enters into application and the EU will be on time to open up
again this summer.”
Stella Kyriakides, the EU’s commissioner for health and food safety,
added: “The EU digital Covid certificate shows the value added of effective
e-health solutions for our citizens. EU citizens are looking forward to
travelling again, and they want to do so safely. Having an EU certificate is a
crucial step on the way.”