Filenews 30 June 2021
The digital certificate was presented on Wednesday morning by the Deputy Minister for Digital Policy and the Minister for Transport. It comes into force from tomorrow Thursday 1 July, and the relevant mobile app will be available in a few days.
As mentioned in the presentation, the certificate will be in digital and printed form with identification code and will be digitally identified with your personal information. There will also be data on its type, such as whether it is for vaccination, PCR test etc. It is worth noting that when requested it must be accompanied by an ID card or passport for identification, while in itself it is not a travel document. Contains a QR code with a digital stamp to ensure its authenticity and will be verified by scanning the code. Its content is written in both Greek and English and is published free of charge. At the same time, the citizen, if he cannot obtain the certificate electronically, can visit the Citizen Service Centres (JEPs) and the Citizen Centres (KE.PO) for the purpose of issuing and printing the Certificate.
It is also fully compatible with what applies to personal data and is easy to use.
According to Mr. Red, technical or non-technical issues may arise, and he will be in some form of probationary period for 6 weeks. During this period you will be able to travel with the data that apply now in parallel. The relevant mobile app is also ready, but is awaiting approval from Google to make it available to the public, which will be done in a few days, according to Mr. Kokkinos.
In addition, persons aged 14 and over may issue the certificate on their own.
Who and how to issue it
The national authorities of each country shall be responsible for issuing the certificate. As far as Cyprus is concerned, the Competent Authority is the Ministry of Health and the European Digital Certificate COVID is issued by the citizen himself through the www.eudcc.gov.cy.
At the same time, the citizen, if he cannot obtain the certificate electronically, can visit the Citizen Service Centres (JEPs) and the Citizen Centres (KE.PO) for the purpose of issuing and printing the Certificate.
After issuing the certificate, you can download it in PDF format, send it by e-mail, or even print it. In addition, the certificate can be stored on mobile and through the CovePass wallet app, which is supported by both Android and iOS. Please note that for the CovPass application, the certificate can only be stored on one device for each beneficiary.
What personal data does the certificate contain? How is their safety ensured?
The European Digital Certificate COVID contains a limited set of necessary information. In particular, it includes the following:
Name
date of birth
date of issue
information about
Vaccine: type of vaccine and manufacturer, number of doses, date of vaccination
Disease: date of diagnostic examination with positive result, certification authority, date of issue, date of validity
Diagnostic examination: type of examination, date and time, diagnostic centre, result
unique QR identifier.
This data shall remain on the certificate and shall not be stored or retained when verifying a certificate in another Member State. In addition, the necessary technical and organisational measures are taken to ensure the protection of citizens' personal data.
For his part, Transport Minister Giannis Karousos said that in view of the newer parameters regarding the EU Digital COVID Certificate (EUDCC), which is expected to enter into force on 1 July 2021, the Council of Ministers approved, for the purposes of smooth implementation of the European Regulation and facilitating the movement of European citizens and entry into the Republic of Cyprus, as the following apply:
Those persons holding a valid and valid EU Digital COVID Certificate (EUDCC) from the competent public authorities of the Member States, including the European Economic Area, shall be allowed to enter the Republic of Cyprus, provided that they are:
(i) Certificate of Vaccination, in which the vaccination regimen has been completed in respect of the required number of doses and the number of days specified by the Ministry of Health has passed between the administration of the last dose (depending on the vaccine administered to them) and the date of travel. In addition, only vaccines licensed by the European Medicines Agency (EOF) as well as Sputnik V or Sinopharm vaccines (BBIBP COVID-19) will be accepted.
(ii) A vaccination certificate indicating vaccination with a dose of an acceptable two-dose vaccine (approved by the European Medicines Agency (EOF) or Sputnik V or Sinopharm) and additionally indicating that the person has recovered from COVID-19 disease.
It should be noted that Member States are expected to be granted, through the Rules of Procedure, a transitional period of six weeks from its entry into force for those States which are not yet ready to issue digital certificates.
By extension, holders of non-digital certificates from those States, who will make use of the transitional period provided for and have not issued digital certificates from 1 July, will be allowed to enter the Republic of Cyprus until their States issue digital certificates. It is understood that at the end of the transitional period, as regards vaccination certificates from these States, entry into the Republic of Cyprus will only be allowed to holders of digital certificates.
(iii) Certificate of recovery after 14 days from the date of sampling of the RT-PCR positive result with a validity period of 180 days from the date of sampling.
In the case of recovery certificates, only European digital recovery certificates will be accepted by the public authorities of the Member States including the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
(iv) PCR laboratory examination certificate – RT, with sampling carried out during the last 72 hours prior to travel to the Republic of Cyprus, demonstrating a negative PCR for COVID-19.
It is noted that PCR- RT laboratory examination certificates have already been accepted under the existing Action Plan for the Resumption of Flights, with sampling carried out during the last 72 hours prior to the trip to the Republic of Cyprus. The differentiation with the entry into force of the European Regulation is that these certificates will be issued in digital form, ensuring their authenticity.
With regard to holders of PCR laboratory examination certificates, either digital or non-digital, the existing procedure will be followed on the CyprusFlightPass online platform related to the categorization of countries (green, orange, red and grey category).
It should be noted that the Ministry of Health, where it deems necessary, will carry out random checks and no passenger shall be exempted from spot checks.
Finally, it is specified that passengers travelling to Cyprus must post their digital certificate on the CyprusFlightPass online platform.
