The EU Unveils Its COVID Travel Passport

The EU Digital COVID Certificate Regulation went into effect on Thursday (July 1), making it easier for citizens and residents of the EU who have been vaccinated to travel through the region.

Twenty-one member states, along with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, have already begun issuing certificates, while five other EU nations will begin doing so on Thursday, the deadline for the program, the Commission said in a news release.

“In March, we promised to have an EU-wide system to facilitate free and safe travel within the EU by the summer holidays,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “Now we can confirm that the EU Digital COVID Certificate system is up and running.”

The Commission said that its member states have generated more than 200 million certificates, designed to allow “safe and free movement” in the EU as the COVID-19 pandemic persists. “All Europeans have the right to free movement, also without the certificate, but the certificate will facilitate travel, helping to exempt holders from restrictions such as quarantine,” stated the release.

The free certificate covers people who have been vaccinated, as well as those who have had COVID-19 and recovered and people who have recently tested negative. It is available in paper and digital versions and in all EU languages.

The EU has also imposed new rules preventing member states from imposing additional travel restrictions on people who hold the certificates, except when necessary and when “proportionate to safeguard public health.”

This news comes two weeks after the EU reopened to global travelers, allowing the member nations to lift the restrictions they had placed on visitors from the U.S.

While the U.S. hasn’t issued plans for a nationwide COVID passport, there are versions of it at work throughout the country. One example is IBM’s Digital Health Pass, an app powered by blockchain technology that lets users share their health status through an encrypted digital wallet. New York worked with IBM to use this technology for its Excelsior Pass, which was tested at a Brooklyn Nets game this winter, allowing users to display a recent negative COVID test to gain admission.