On June 9, 2021, the legislative work on the EU's digital Covid-19 ID was completed in the EP, as a result of which travel within the EU will be easier and the economy will gain momentum.
During the week of the plenary session, the representatives adopted the decree of the new EU digital Covid-19 ID package for EU citizens with 546 votes, 93 against and 51 abstentions, and the decree for non-EU citizens with 553 votes, 91 against and 46 abstentions.
According to the announcement of the LIBE Committee on the same day, all member states recognize the new EU certificate. The ID makes travel easier and helps to gradually lift restrictions in a coordinated manner. It will be valid for 12 months from July 1. Testing cannot stop either: the EU is contributing 100 million euros to ensure that tests are available at an affordable price and as widely as possible. It should be noted that the system behind the ID cards was created by T-Systems and SAP and is operated from the European Commission's data center in Luxembourg. However, the Member States store the digital signature keys required for verification on their own servers. National control applications or systems can access these keys across the EU, but no personal data is handled.
Tineke Strik of the Green Party from the Netherlands stood up for the vaccination certificate. He said: the ID fully respects non-discrimination and data protection requirements. The member states should introduce the new, harmonized system , and it is the duty of the EP representatives to monitor that these values are truly respected.
In comparison Anna Donáth , the EU's regulatory proposal regarding the "vaccine passport" would discriminate against the more than one million Hungarians who were vaccinated with Eastern vaccines. "The immediate representatives also agree with the exemption from such restrictions. Just think of the thousands of our compatriots who commute to Austria, Slovakia or Transylvania every day, but only for those vaccinated with a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency, travel restrictions would be automatically lifted at the EU level. With regard to the other vaccines, such as Szputnyik V and Sinopharm, the decision would be left to the member states, who can decide to cancel them, but they can also decide to maintain them." - declared the EP representative of Momentum. He added: "Of course, the latter case would not mean that those vaccinated with the Chinese or Russian vaccine could not travel within Europe, only that, according to the rules of the respective member state, they would have to present a negative test or go into quarantine upon entry, as opposed to the Western vaccine with vaccinated people, who would be automatically exempted from this." According to Anna Donáth, the Fenites are "unacceptable, this cannot be called a European solution."
Sándor Rónai , the EP representative of the Democratic Coalition, stated at his press conference on May 29, 2021, that the Orbán government has once again failed the Hungarians in connection with the coronavirus. According to him, the Hungarian Prime Minister is hiding what kind of vaccine the citizens have received , and as a result, Hungarians will not be able to travel without restrictions in the territory of the European Union, like other EU citizens.
Resolution 2361 of the Council of Europe (which is a regional international organization located outside the institutional framework of the European Union) related to vaccination states that those with a vaccination certificate cannot receive additional rights, and that those who do not want to be vaccinated cannot be discriminated against.
Image: ec.europa.eu
The statement of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted on March 19, 2020 on the management of personal data in connection with the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic: data protection rules, such as the GDPR, cannot hinder the measures taken in the fight against the coronavirus. The fight against infectious diseases is a common goal of all nations, so it must be supported in the best possible way. The GDPR allows exceptions for certain special categories of personal data, e.g. from the prohibition of processing health data if it is necessary due to significant public interest in the field of public health (Article 9 (2) point i) or to protect the fundamental interests of the data subject (Article 9 (2) point c)), and preamble paragraph (46) specifically refers to data management during the epidemic. In its statement, the EDPB highlights that, in the presence of special conditions, Article 23 of the GDPR allows national legislators to use legislative measures to limit the scope of the obligations of data controllers and data processors and the rights of data subjects, if this limitation respects fundamental rights and freedoms and is necessary , and is considered a proportionate measure in a democratic society in order to achieve important objectives of the Union or the member state in the general public interest, especially public health measures. A state of emergency declared during a pandemic is a legal condition that can make it legal to restrict the rights of the affected persons, provided that these restrictions are only applied to the extent that they are strictly necessary and proportionate in order to protect the public health objective, the EDPB's statement says .
On March 17, 2021, the European Commission presented its proposal for the digital green card, which has the following title: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on interoperable cards for vaccination, testing and recovery in order to facilitate free movement during the Covid-19 pandemic ( on the framework for the issuance, control and acceptance of a digital green certificate). Article 9 of the proposal provides for the protection of personal data. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the purpose of handling the personal data contained in the ID cards was to facilitate the exercise of the right to free movement within the Union. The personal data is used by the competent authorities of the destination Member State or by cross-border passenger transport service providers obliged by national legislation to implement certain public health measures during the pandemic to check the owner's vaccination, testing or recovery status. For this purpose, personal data must be limited to what is absolutely necessary. Personal data accessed pursuant to this paragraph shall not be retained. The retention period of the data may in no case exceed the period until which the ID cards can be used to exercise the right to free movement.
Monika Mosshammer , Deputy Head of Unit of the Union Citizenship and Free Movement of Persons Unit of the Equality and EU Citizenship Directorate of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Legal Enforcement and Consumer Policy, responded to the concerns related to the digital green certificate based on the request of the CÖF-CÖKA. Mosshammer referred to the Commission's proposal of March 17, according to which a "digital green card" should be created that proves the fact of vaccination, test or recovery in order to facilitate free movement. The deputy head of the unit said that the Commission is working to provide the member states with the necessary tools to lift the restrictions currently in force in most of the EU. In order to prevent discrimination against unvaccinated persons, the Commission proposed not only an interoperable vaccination card, but also one that proves the results of the coronavirus tests carried out and that the holder of the card has recovered from the Covid-19 disease. Thus, all EU citizens will be able to enjoy the benefits of the digital green card system. To the extent that Member States waive certain restrictions on the free movement of persons holding certificates of vaccination, testing or recovery, the cards created by this proposal will enable citizens to take advantage of these exemptions. As more scientific data become available, in particular on the effects of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 infection or recovery from this disease, an interoperable framework for health cards should allow Member States to lift restrictions in a coordinated manner. The proposal clearly states that possession of a vaccination certificate is not a prerequisite for exercising the right to free movement or using cross-border passenger transport services.
Data protection requirements and data saving have been integrated into the proposal. Identity cards may only contain information necessary to facilitate citizens' right to free movement (e.g. personal data required for the issuance and verification of identity cards). The framework of the "digital green certificate" does not require the creation and maintenance of an EU-level database, but enables the decentralized verification of digitally signed interoperable certificates. The digital green certificate will no longer be used after the end of the pandemic, however, the proposal includes a mechanism to enable its reactivation should it be needed in the future.
Constitutional lawyer Zoltán Lomnici Jr., spokesperson CÖF-CÖKA
(Cover image source: European Parliament)
