The European 'Digital Covid Certificate' will be available in Belgium from next week Wednesday 16 or Thursday 17 June, according to Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke.
The certificate has to be available throughout the EU on 1 July at the latest, but several countries will be ready to implement it several days or weeks earlier.
"We can hereby confirm that everything is on track to be ready by 16 June," confirmed Vandenbroucke to Het Nieuwsblad. This is a few days earlier than the 18 June date that was initially announced.
The certificate will be available on paper and online, including via mijngezondheid.be. The practical details, however, are still being worked out, and a major communication campaign will be launched.
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The certificate got the final green light from the European Parliament on Wednesday, and now still has to be published in the Official Journal.
The document was put in place to make travel during the pandemic as easy as possible, and will be a QR code that proves that someone has been fully vaccinated, has a recent negative PCR Covid-19 test, or has recently recovered from the virus, and is therefore immune.
At controls, such as at airports, train stations or when crossing the border by car, it will likely be enough to show the code on your smartphone. For people who want a physical version, it can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed.
Nine countries have already started issuing the certificates, which will have to be recognised in all the other EU Member States: Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Poland, Lithuania, Spain and the Czech Republic.
According to European Commissioner Didier Reynders, more than a million EU citizens have already received a certificate.
“The more Covid certificates are issued in the coming weeks, the better we can avoid problems,” he said on Tuesday. “[This certificate] will make life easier for citizens. It will help them move around the EU, whether for work, family reasons or leisure.”
