The EU travel certificate is live from today! Here is how it works

Where and how to apply for it, who is entitled to an EU Covid certificate, where to travel with it? What is the validity? We try to answer all these questions below.

HVG summarised the critical information on the EU Covid certificate. We also have a helpful summary HERE.

What does it certify, and who is entitled to an EU Covid card?

The EU Digital Covid Card certifies that you have either

• received a vaccine against Covid-19,
• had a negative test result, or
• recovered from Covid-19.

The certificate can be obtained by a person who has been vaccinated against Covid-19 in an EU Member State – it is already valid after the first vaccination, but whether the 2nd dose has been received will be included in the document, which will also include

• in the case of vaccination certificates: the type and manufacturer of the vaccine, number of doses administered, date of administration of the vaccine(s);
• for test certificates: type of test, date and time, place and result of the test – it must be checked which tests are accepted in each country. The tests cost money, which the traveller has to pay for. The validity period is 72 hours for PCR tests and 48 hours for antigen tests.
• for certificates of recovery: date of positive test result and period of validity. The maximum validity period of the recovery certificate is set at 180 days, meaning that we can travel freely for half a year after the illness – this might be changed and extended later.

Holders of the certificate cannot be asked to undergo further testing or quarantine during travel when crossing borders – up to 14 days after the 2nd dose.

The card will be available in all EU Member States, as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, and negotiations are underway with the US.

What is the validity of the certificate?

Member States are only required to accept vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA): Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen. That is, those who have been vaccinated with Sinopharm or Sputnik vaccines may be at a disadvantage. Still, it is important that Member States can decide to authorise vaccines outside the EMA under their own responsibility.

For instance, the Hungarian government has concluded bilateral agreements with several countries (Albania, Bahrain, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Northern Macedonia, Georgia, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine). Citizens of those states may visit each other’s countries without restriction.

Before travelling, you should find out about the conditions in the given country at the Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the Re-Open EU application.

For the time being, all that is known about the validity is that it is for 12 months, but that may change, as it is not even possible to know for how long a vaccine offers protection.

How to apply for the EU Covid certificate?

Each country makes decisions on the issuance of the card: the document can be issued by, for example, test centres or health authorities, but can also be demanded directly via an e-health portal. It will be available in both digital and printed formats.

In Hungary, according to the plans, the paper-based card can be requested at the government offices (kormányablak), and the electronic version via the customer portal through the Electronic Portal of the Healthcare Service (EESZT).

How can children travel?

Vaccinated children aged 12-15 can also receive certificates. If someone is younger than this, but their parents have a certificate, the Commission recommends that they also be free to travel, and those under the age of 6 should be exempt from travel-related checks.

Read alsoBREAKING! Hungary to lift mask mandate when 5.5 m inoculated

Source: www.hvg.hu