The European Commission is aiming for the health certificate intended to facilitate free movement in the EU to come into force at the end of June in view of the summer holidays.
"We want to be able to start with this system at the end of June," European Commissioner Didier Reynders told Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs on Tuesday.
The European Parliament is counting on the adoption of the draft regulation during its plenary session from 7 to 10 June.
It will first be necessary to negotiate with the Member States on this "green certificate" proposed by the Commission, intended to facilitate travel for Europeans by certifying that they have been vaccinated against Covid-19, have passed a negative PCR test or are immunized afterwards. have been infected.
And consequently avoid restrictive measures in the country of destination (quarantine, test).
As for the technical implementation, "we want to be able to start with a pilot project at the beginning of June," said the Belgian commissioner, responsible for free movement in the EU.
Certain decisions reserved for States
The regulation sets a harmonized European framework, while some countries of the EU or the Schengen area have already started to set up this type of certificate.
The European Commissioner recalled that this certificate, which would be available in digital or on paper, would be temporary, until the World Health Organization declares the epidemic over, while some MEPs demanded a fixed deadline.
Good exchange of views with @EP_Justice committee of @Europarl_EN on the Digital Green Certificate this morning.
Our objective is to facilitate return to free movement within the #EU in view of summer, in full respect of the principles of non-discrimination & data protection pic.twitter.com/PQtWDopzv8
- Didier Reynders (@dreynders) April 13, 2021
He also underlined that the uses of this certificate for reasons other than freedom of movement were the responsibility of the Member States, but that they should do so within a legal framework respecting European law, in particular as regards personal data.
And if this certificate must be free for all European citizens, Didier Reynders judged that imposing free or a ceiling price for the tests, as requested in particular by the MEP Sophie in't Veld (Renew), would be an interference in the competence of the Member States in matters of public health.
Regarding the protection of personal data, a matter of concern among MEPs, he said the draft certificate contained "a limited set of information", "smaller" than for the WHO vaccination certificate.
"The technical solution envisaged [...] will not require the creation of a centralized database at EU level", he stressed.
He finally specified that the member countries would only be obliged to accept within the framework of these certificates those vaccines authorized at European level, but that they would be free to accept others.
