European Commission to propose vaccine passport legislation this month
The European Commission will propose legislation for an EU-wide digital vaccine passport in March, President Ursula von der Leyen said this morning.
Speaking to lawmakers this morning, she said: “As for the question of what the digital green passport could look like: we will submit a legislative proposal in March”.
Her words come after it was last week reported that EU leaders had agreed to put in place the digital certificates by the summer.
On Friday, Angela Merkel said that it could take up to three months to get such a system set up.
Vaccine passports are widely considered the most realistic way of getting international travel restarted in time for the summer.
A number of organisations, including global airlines body IATA, are in the process of developing the software for such a scheme.
In the UK, Boris Johnson has said that ministers are also looking into creating such a document in order to kickstart travel.
Last week the Times reported that the NHS app will be converted into a digital Covid certificate, allowing people to use their mobile phones to prove they have been vaccinated.
Speaking this afternoon, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We have said that we are looking at the issue of vaccine passports.
“As you can expect, DfT (the Department for Transport) will speak to countries across the world in terms of how they may look to introduce passports.”