Colombia and Malaysia Join the EU Digital COVID Certificate System

Photo source: European Commission / Photographer: Christophe Licoppe

Covid-19 certificates issued by Colombia and Malaysia are now equivalent to the EU Digital COVID Certificate for travel, the European Commission recently announced.

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.

With the addition of Colombia and Malaysia, the number of countries and territories connected to the EU system are 64. These include the 27 EU Member States and the following 37 non-EU members: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Benin, Cabo Verde, Colombia, El Salvador, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Israel, Iseland, Jordan, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Panama, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, Switzerland, 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.

“With more than 1.7 billion certificates issued to date, our work to facilitate safe travel continues,” Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said, adding that he hopes the list of countries and territories connected to the system will only continue to increase.

Photo source: European Commission / Photographer: Denis Lovrovic

In force since 1 July 2021, the digital COVID certificate has played an important role in facilitating the free movement of people in the EU during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In March, following ongoing developments of the pandemic, including the emergence of the Omicron variant, the European Commission extended the regulation establishing the EU Digital COVID Certificate by one year, until 30 June 2023. It was originally to expire on 30 June 2022.

The Commission also introduced targeted amendments to the EU Digital COVID Certificate system such as extending the range of authorised antigen tests for which a test certificate can be issued and ensuring that vaccination certificates contain the correct overall number of doses administered in any EU state and not just in the member state issuing the certificate. A set of rules for traveling children were also updated. Under the rules, vaccination certificates held by minors will not expire after 270 days.

Moreover, the Commission adopted a mechanism to revoke fraudulent or erroneous EU Digital COVID Certificates.