Belgium welcomes the European Commission's proposal for a 'Digital Green Certificate' for safe travel in the EU during the pandemic, but will carefully test its privacy aspects.
While Prime Minister Alexander De Croo is satisfied that discrimination between people who are vaccinated and those who are not (yet) will be avoided, he said that the privacy aspect should be checked carefully.
"We will also have to look at how the certificate will be used, and whether we can move towards a similar approach for travel to third countries, outside the European Union," De Croo told the Belga news agency.
"It would be good to have a unified European approach there as well, rather than tackling this in dispersed order," he said, adding that, aside from the privacy aspect, he wants to make sure that the certificate remains based on scientific insights.
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According to the Commission proposal, the certificate would only contain the key information that is necessary to guarantee its “authenticity, integrity and validity.”
This will include the name and date of birth of the holder, the Member State in which the certificate was issued and a unique identifier.
For people who have been vaccinated, it will be able to show when and with which vaccine. Those who have been tested will be able to show the type of test, the date of the test, the test centre and the test result. People who have recovered from Covid-19 will be able to show details of a positive test on the certificate.
However, the countries visited will not be allowed to keep all these data, and all health data will remain in the Member State that issued the certificate. More info on the certificate can be found here.
At the European summit that will take place next Thursday and Friday, De Croo will further discuss the Commission's proposal.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
