BRUSSELS (BELGIUM) (ITALPRESS) – The European Parliament has adopted its negotiating position on the proposal for a certificate to reaffirm the right to free movement in Europe during the pandemic. MEPs agreed that the new “EU COVID-19 certificate” – which should replace the “green digital certificate” proposed by the Commission – should be valid for 12 months and no more. MEPs want the document, which should be available in digital or paper format, certifying whether a person has been vaccinated against the coronavirus or, alternatively, whether they have had a recent negative test or have recovered from the infection. However, EU COVID-19 certificates will not serve as a travel document, nor will they become a precondition for exercising the right to free movement. The legislative proposal concerning European citizens was approved with 540 votes to 119 and 31 abstentions, while that on third-country nationals passed with 540 votes to 61 and 60 abstentions. The vote took place on Wednesday and the results were announced on Thursday morning. The European Parliament states that holders of an EU COVID-19 certificate should not be subject to additional travel restrictions, such as quarantine, self-isolation or testing. According to MEPs, in order to avoid discrimination against those who are not vaccinated or cannot afford the test, EU countries should “guarantee universal, accessible, timely and free tests”. MEPs stress that COVID-19 vaccines “must be produced on a scale, affordable and distributed globally.” They also express “concern about the serious problems caused by companies not respecting production and delivery schedules”. Parliament wants to ensure that the EU certificate “is harmonized with any initiative set up by member states”. EU countries must accept certificates issued in other member states for people vaccinated with a vaccine authorized in the EU by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) (currently Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen). It will be up to member states to decide whether to also accept vaccination certificates issued in other member states for vaccines listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use. The position of the European Parliament provides that the certificates are subject to continuous control to avoid fraud and falsification, as well as the authenticity of the electronic seals included in the document must be verified. Personal data obtained from certificates should not be stored by the Member States of destination nor should a central database be established at EU level. The list of entities that will process and receive the data must be made public so that everyone can exercise their data protection rights according to the EU data protection regulation. (ITALPRESS). sat / com 29-Apr-21 11:35 am
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