New digital green certificate
New Digital Green Certificate
This new digital green certificate, created by the European Commission and presented on March 17, was created to restore, as soon as possible, the free mobility of COVID-19 within its territory.
The intention of the Spanish Government,
is that the green digital certificatewill come into force in June 2021, since it has already been approved by the Commission and is only awaiting acceptance by the governments and the European Parliament.
Consequently, if finally approved, this Green Digital Certificate (GDC), although it is not a passport or travel requirement, will grant free entry into other countries, due to the proof that its holder has been vaccinated with one of the vaccines authorized and recognized by the European Medicines Agency.
Features of the Digital Green Certificate
This digital green certificate requires coordination between the Ministry of Health and the Autonomous Communities and will have to count on the involvement of other Ministries (Tourism, Foreign Affairs, Industry), the European Union and others such as the Airlines.
It is worth mentioning that it will be free of charge, and that any person may apply for it. The most relevant aspects of the Green Digital Certificate are detailed below:
— Distribution will be free of charge, avoiding discrimination within the socioeconomic context.
— All EU citizens will be entitled to obtain it.
— They shall be issued by hospitals, testing centers or health authorities.
— It will be a single-person passport, which can be stored in mobile devices, although it can also be requested in paper format, but in any case, it will always include a QR code to guarantee its authenticity.
— The certificate will confirm the information about the vaccination received, about having tested negative in COVID-19 or about having passed the disease with complete and recent recovery within the last 180 days.
— They shall be issued in the official language(s) of the issuing state and in English.
However, it is important to bear in mind that, even if the Digital Green Certificate is finally approved by the 27 countries that are part of the EU, they have already agreed in parallel to reserve the possibility of taking decisions within their borders, being able to impose restrictions and quarantines on all travelers, even if they arrive with a document proving that they have received the complete vaccination regimen.
The Digital Green Certificate is not proclaimed as a condition for exercising freedom of movement (a fundamental right for EU citizens), since unvaccinated persons can enjoy the same freedom as vaccinated persons.
The CVD would only allow carriers to avoid the various mandatory tests or quarantines, speeding up their passage through the various controls carried out at airports.
It is also more than confirmed that countries will have free disposal and full autonomy to program and manage controls as they deem necessary.
Green certificate and personal data protection
The implication that this passport or green certificate has in terms of data protection is important, since in addition to identifying the bearer (name, surname and date of birth), it would be disclosing information regarding whether it was recovered from Covid-19, negative result of PCR, etc., and therefore, corresponding to special category data since they are related to the health of its holder.
The regulation is currently being processed by the European Commission, but so far no one has expressed any opinion on the implications of a European list of vaccinated persons and the possible grievances for citizens that the existence of this database and its special characteristics would entail.
As usual in these experimental cases, we will have to wait until it is put into practice to know the real scope and consequences of its use.