A step towards global health security
To facilitate safe free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union established the EU Digital COVID Certificate. In June 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) will take up the EU system of digital COVID-19 certification to establish a global system that will help protect citizens across the world from on-going and future health threats, including pandemics. A strong tool for the reopening of our economies and societies The EU Digital COVID certificate has been a crucial element in Europe's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 2.3 billion certificates issued. The certificate, which covered COVID-19 vaccination, test and recovery, facilitated safe travel for citizens, and it has also been key to support Europe's hard-hit tourism industry. The certificate facilitated safe travel for citizens across the European Union when Member States restricted travel on the grounds of public health. In addition, it allowed to coordinate the lifting of these restrictions from the moment it was possible. Indeed since August 2022 there have been no intra-EU travel restrictions anymore. The EU Digital COVID Certificate has also been a success worldwide: it has set a global standard for international travel and has been the only system in operation at international level. 51 countries across four continents have benefited from this system. The EU Digital COVID Certificate Regulation entered into application on 1 July 2021 and is set to expire on 30 June 2023. A step towards global health security In June 2023, the WHO will take up the EU system of digital COVID-19 certification to establish a global system that will help protect citizens across the world from on-going and future health threats, including pandemics. This is the first building block of the WHO Global Digital Health Certification Network that will develop a system for global verification of health documents to deliver better health for all. The WHO will facilitate this process globally under its own structure with the first use-case being the convergence of digital COVID-19 certificates. This includes taking up EU standards and validating digital signatures to prevent fraud. In doing so, WHO will not have access to any underlying personal data, which would continue to be the exclusive domain of national governments. EU-WHO digital partnership To facilitate the uptake of the EU Digital COVID certificate by the WHO and contribute to its operation and further development, the WHO and the European Commission have agreed to partner in digital health. This partnership will work to technically develop the WHO system with a staged approach to cover additional use cases, which may include, for example, the digitisation of the International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis. Expanding such digital solutions will be essential to deliver better health for citizens across the globe.
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