Seven countries began using the European Union’s digital certificate on Tuesday, allowing for fully vaccinated people to travel.
The Digital Green Certificate began operating ahead of schedule this week in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Croatia and Poland. The digital record stores whether a person has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, has recovered from the virus or has tested negative for the virus within 72 hours.
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The countries made the certificates available to residents and are also accepting them for visitors.
The free certificate is in either digital or paper format that contains a QR code with a digital signature to protect against forgery and falsification, the European Commission said.
Each issuing body, a hospital, testing center or health authority, has its own digital signature, stored in a secure database in each country and the commission is developing a “gateway” where all certificate signatures can be verified across the EU.
According to the commission, June is a scheduled “warm-up phase,” allowing member countries to launch the certificate on a voluntary basis provided the countries are ready to issue and verify certificates.
The commission expects the system to be operational in all 27 member countries by July 1, and it will revise travel recommendations within the European Union later this month.
