The Deputy Secretary of State and Health, António Lacerda Sales, said today, June 9, that Portugal is finalizing the work for the creation of its covid-19 digital green certificate, adding that "soon" that "transit permit" will be ready.
“We are also finalizing our digital green certificate. There are seven countries that already have it, we are also in the front group so that we can have the digital green certificate with the respective standardization as quickly as possible», he referred to the journalists, at the end of a visit to Hospital de Braga.
According to the official, the work has been done between the General Directorate of Health, the National Press Mint, because of encryption, and also with the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health.
Asked when the certificate will be ready, Lacerda Sales replied: "soon, as soon as possible".
The European Parliament approved the adoption of the Covid-19 digital certificate, which will allow EU citizens who have already been vaccinated, recovered from an infection or tested, to travel without restrictions within the European Union from 1 July.
In a vote held this Tuesday, June 8, in Strasbourg, but the result of which was only released this morning (the 9th) - due to the remote counting of votes, as the plenary session is held in a hybrid format -, the assembly gave its “green light” to the certificate with 546 votes in favour, 93 against and 51 abstentions.
After, in mid-May, the negotiators of the Portuguese presidency of the EU Council and the European Parliament reached a political agreement on the certificate, proposed by the European Commission last March, the approval by the assembly of the text of the compromise that legally frames the document paves the way for its entry into force, as planned, on 1 July, for a duration of 12 months.
“The passport has rules, has criteria. We will have to adapt these criteria to our country as well and this is the work that we are finishing”, said Lacerda Sales.
Designed to facilitate the return to free movement within the EU and to support the tourism sector in particular, in an attempt to “save” the summer of 2021, this “transit pass”, which should be free, will work similarly to a travel card. boarding for trips, in digital and/or paper format, with a QR code to be easily read by electronic devices, and which is made available free of charge, and in the citizen's national language and in English.
As part of the implementation of this European certificate, it is expected that Member States will not apply restrictions again, when almost half of Europeans have already received the first dose of the vaccine against the covid-19 disease, unless the epidemiological situation justifies it. , but it will always be up to national governments to decide whether travelers with the certificate will have to undergo quarantine, further testing (for example, in addition to entry tests) or additional requirements.
On Tuesday, the European Commission urged the Member States of the European Union (EU) to start issuing certificates proving vaccination, recovery or testing to Covid-19, in order to avoid “major blockages” in the official launch of the digital document to the Community level.
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