Holders of vaccination certificates issued by the relevant authorities in Colombia and Malaysia are now eligible to travel to the majority of the European Union and Schengen Area countries, as well as to several other third countries, without any COVID-19 restrictions.
On Monday, April 4, the European Commission has announced the adoption of two equivalence decisions certifying that COVID-19 certificates issued by Colombia and Malaysia are equivalent to the EU Digital COVID Certificate.
“As a result, these two countries are now being connected to the EU’s system, and the EU will accept their COVID certificates under the same conditions as the EU Digital COVID Certificate. This also means that holders of certificates issued by Colombia and Malaysia will be able to use them under the same conditions as holders of an EU Digital COVID Certificate do,” the Commission notes in a statement issued regarding the decision.
The number of countries part of the gateway for the EU Digital COVID Certificate has thus increased to 64 with the addition of Colombia and Malaysia.
Other countries part of the system are the 27 EU Member States, the four non-EU Schengen Members – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland – as well as Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Benin, Cabo Verde, El Salvador, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Panama, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Togo, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man), Uruguay and the Vatican.
>> February 16: EU Accepts COVID-19 Certificates of 2 More Third Countries As Equivalent to the EU Digital COVID Certificate
Commenting on the two new equivalence decisions, the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, applauded the move, expressing his hopes for the number of countries part of the system to increase.
“With more than 1.7 billion certificates issued to date, our work to facilitate safe travel continues,” he also said.
In March, the EU Commission has extended the EU Digital COVID Certificate for one more year until June 2021. The same was set to expire on June 2022, but upon an evaluation that the Coronavirus is still prevalent throughout the block and the world, the Commission has agreed to extend its use.
At the same time, the EU authorities have decided to make several changes to the certificate system in order to adjust it to the evolving Coronavirus situation. The changes include listing all doses of vaccines administered to the certificate holder, regardless of where they were administered. It also enables those who hold an antigen test with positive COVID-19 results to obtain a certificate, which previously was not possible.
On March 21, the EU has also introduced a revocation feature to the EU COVID Digital Certificate system, which permits the authorities responsible for the issuance and checking of the certificates in the Member States to annul fraudulent or erroneous certificates.
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