The Diplomat
The plenary of the European Parliament yesterday completed the legislative process on the EU Digital COVID Certificate, after which the text must be formally adopted by the Council and published in the Official Journal for immediate entry into force and application as of July 1, 2021.
The plenary approved the new Regulations on the EU Digital COVID Certificate by 546 votes in favor, 93 against and 51 abstentions (EU citizens); and 553 votes in favor, 91 against and 46 abstentions (third country nationals), as reported by the European Parliament representation in Madrid.
The certificate will be issued free of charge by national authorities, will be available in digital or paper format and will include a QR code. It will certify that a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19, has a recent negative test or has overcome the disease; in practice it will be three different certificates. A common European framework will make the certificates interoperable and verifiable throughout the European Union and prevent fraud and falsification. The certificate will not be a prerequisite for exercising the right to free movement and will not be considered a travel document.
The system will be implemented from July 1, 2021 and will be in force for twelve months. The EU Digital COVID Certificate is already active in nine EU countries, including Spain, and as of July 1, it should be available in all 27 member states.
“The Government celebrates the approval of the COVID certificate in the European Parliament”, Moncloa stated via Twitter. “Spain is already issuing this Certificate and is 20 days ahead of the time when it will be mandatory”, it continued, “it is a decisive step in opening up to safe international mobility”, it added.
Tourism has been one of the sectors most affected in Spain by the pandemic, but the number of international tourists is progressively increasing. According to the INE, in April 2021 Spain received 630,647 international tourists, of which 22.8% were German. Their main destination was the Balearic Islands (19.8%), followed by the Canary Islands (17.4%) and Catalonia (15%). The cumulative number of tourists in the first four months fell by 82.6% compared to the same period in 2020 (1.8 million compared to 10.6 million the previous year).
