The European Parliament, by a majority vote, supported the introduction of a coronavirus digital certificate in the European Union, it follows from the voting results.
The package includes several documents, each of which received an absolute majority of votes of deputies. Now the decision must go through the technical registration procedure, and it will come into force after publication in the official EU journal.
The system is planned to be launched from July 1, but it is already working in test mode – more than a million Europeans have received a coronavirus certificate.
The document contains three options for data: information about the vaccine against COVID-19, about a negative PCR test, or about the past disease and the presence of immunity. It can be used with a mobile phone and a QR code.
According to the EU, the certificates should, on the one hand, eliminate discrimination, and on the other, accelerate the return to free movement between the countries of the union.
It is also expected that those who were vaccinated and received a certificate will be exempted from the obligation to take tests and comply with quarantine while traveling in the European Union. We are talking about vaccines that are centrally approved in the EU, but the Union states will have the right to independently recognize other drugs.
European certificates may also be available to citizens of other countries who come to the EU, if they have received the appropriate vaccination. This mechanism is currently being developed.
The certificates are supposed to be temporary – until the World Health Organization lifts the international emergency. They are expected to be introduced for a year. In addition, the European Commission will allocate 100 million euros to make it as cheap as possible to conduct tests for entering information into certificates.