Bulgaria among first EU countries ready to start issuing EU Digital Covid Certificate
Bulgaria is among seven European Union countries to be ready to start issuing the EU Digital Covid Certificate, according to a statement on June 1 by the European Commission.
The Commission said that on June 1, the EU Digital COVID Certificate reached another important milestone with the go-live of the technical system at EU level, which allows to verify certificates in a secure and privacy-friendly way.
The EU certificate was proposed by the Commission to resume safe travelling this summer.
It will be free of charge, secure and accessible to all, the Commission said.
Available in digital format or on paper, it will be a proof that a person has been vaccinated against Covid-19, tested negative, or recovered from an infection.
“Following the political agreement between the European Parliament and Council on the Regulation governing the certificate on May 20, today, the technical backbone of the EU systems goes live,” the Commission said.
Set up in only two months, the EU gateway provides for the verification of the security features contained in the QR codes of all certificates. This will allow citizens and authorities to be sure that the certificates are authentic. During this process, no personal data is exchanged or retained.
The go-live of the gateway completes the preparatory work at EU level, the Commission said.
Since May 10, a total of 22 countries have already tested the gateway successfully.
While the Regulation will be applied from 1 July, all EU countries, which have passed the technical tests and are ready to issue and verify certificates, can now start using the system on a voluntary basis.
“Already today, seven member states – Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Croatia and Poland – have decided to connect to the gateway and started issuing first EU certificates, while certain countries have decided to launch the EU Digital Covid Certificate only when all functions are deployed nationwide. Therefore, more countries will join in the coming days and weeks,” the Commission said.
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