EU Digital Covid Certificate Still ‘a Work in Progress’

According to EC director-general for mobility and transport Henrik Hololei, the EU’s Digital Covid Certificate is still “a work in progress,” with member states implementing their own limits.

According to Hololei, there are “operational challenges,” as follows: “We have a pretty good idea what could improve. Within the next two weeks we’ll commence with recommendations.”

The EU has set 12th  August as the deadline for enforcement of the Digital Covid Certificate, which went into effect on 1st July.

The certificate, Hololei said, “came a little too late,” saying: “It took too long. Nothing was done for a long time, because there was no willingness from member states to do it.”

He made it clear that the European Commission’s first priority remains resuming travel within the EU, followed by travel to the United States and “near neighbors.”

He remarked about the United Kingdom: “With Brexit, the UK is now a third country like any third country. [But] we are hoping travel between the UK and EU will be normal.”

Hololei stated of the certificate’s adoption at a CAPA Centre for Aviation online summit:

“There are some strings.

“Member states became a patchwork and still want to maintain control, so we had to modify the original proposal so member states can have additional restrictions until August 12 and can also apply additional restrictions [after that] if conditions change.”

He noted: “There are some operational challenges. The big challenge is reading the QR code – there are bottlenecks where this is checked – and also the processing. It varies by member state.

“It’s a work in progress. Our priority is to have a restart in the EU. Next we would like to see the US opening, and traffic with our close neighbours open up.

“We would like to see mutual recognition, to have these certificates recognised by our partners. Unfortunately, the US has taken a totally restrictive view.

“With the UK, we don’t have an agreement on the certificate. The situation in the UK has been volatile with a high number of cases. The UK is now opening up – let’s see what impact that has.”

He also said: “Asia will take some time. The recovery of long haul is going to be much longer.”

“The recovery is underway. Already since July 1 when the Digital Covid Certificate became official we’ve seen an increase in flights and passengers in the EU. We moved beyond 50% of [intra-EU] flights [operating].”

“It is not a travel document or a passport or a travel pass. It’s not a precondition for travel. It’s a digital certificate [that] either you are fully vaccinated or had a negative test or have recognised antibodies.

“When you travel in Europe, you need to comply with the entry requirements of the specific country. If you have the DCC you are in a good position to comply.

“After August 12 you should only have to have the certificate.”