Digital Green Certificate

Key points

The EESC:

• maintains that the “Digital Green Certificate” should minimise complexity for travelling passengers and facilitate their movement during the COVID-19 pandemic;
• believes that is necessary to clarify that the possession of a ‘Digital Green Certificate’ is not a precondition for the exercise of free movement and that the proposed Regulation does not establish an obligation or right to be vaccinated;
• underlines that the possession of the Green Certificate should not exempt travellers from complying with other risk reduction measures, but should be considered a transition strategy for countries that demand a permanent mechanism for constant re-evaluation after its adoption. The impact, especially on socially marginalised and disadvantaged groups, must be properly assessed and monitored;
• points out that all European countries should work together to achieve uniform framework conditions (i.e., content, format, principles and technical standards of the certificate) as soon as possible because we cannot afford to lose another summer of tourism;
• points out that travel protocols must be clear and applicable to international travel by air, road and sea;
• stresses that, since personal data include sensitive medical data, it is crucial for all Member States to have interoperable systems with equally strong data protection provisions. It recommends that the Digital Green Certificate be organised in a way that the information about which category is fulfilled to travel is only visible to the traveller;
• points out that the Digital Green Certificate will also serve to facilitate travel for business. This must not lead to discrimination in the workplace or to misuse by employing vaccinated persons from third countries in jobs where working conditions are poor;
• calls upon the Commission and the Member States to ensure that the certificate, as well as updating it, remains free of charge;
• supports that, in order to avoid unequal restrictions on the freedom of movement for those who have not been vaccinated, European governments should ensure cheap and easy access to testing for all citizens;
• believes that the Certificate must be recognised in every EU Member State, so as to pave the way for the establishment of full freedom of movement inside the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic.