European Commission wants to extend corona certificate until summer 2023 | Coronavirus what you need to know

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The European corona certificate was introduced on July 1, 2021 to keep safe travel possible within Europe during the pandemic. Anyone who has been vaccinated against the coronavirus, has recently taken a negative test or has recovered from an acquired infection, will receive a valid certificate. Currently, the standard period of validity is 9 months from the administration of the last dose of the first vaccination cycle. Anyone who receives a booster shot will retain their certificate in any case. In the meantime, more than 1.2 billion certificates have been issued, more than 60 countries have joined the European platform.

The Commission now wants to give the regulation that gives the certificate a legal framework a validity period that will continue until June 30, 2023. That is exactly 1 year longer than is the case today. “Without that extension, we risk being saddled with divergent national systems, and with all the confusion and obstacles that they would entail,” said European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders. “The European digital corona certificate has been shown to be an effective means of enabling safe and free travel. I look forward to the day when it is no longer necessary, but until then we can travel around Europe safely with it.”

In its update of the regulation, the Commission intends to make some minor changes. The most important is its proposal to also accept the result of an antigen test, such as that taken by pharmacists in Belgium, as the basis for a test certificate. In doing so, the Commission is responding to the large number of tests in this phase of the epidemic. She also wants the doses given to subjects during clinical trials of a vaccine to be taken into account. Finally, Member States must ensure that they correctly record the number of doses administered to persons vaccinated in different countries.

Many countries also use the European certificate to reserve access to certain places or events for people who have been vaccinated, cured or tested, but that remains a purely national matter. The Commission does ask the Member States to continue to accept all European certificates, including those issued by other countries, for that use. In addition, they should coordinate the validity period with the duration of the European (travel) certificate.