Travel rules confusion wasting advantages of digital Covid certificate

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned that free movement within Europe is being compromised by the failure of EU member states to harmonize COVID-19 entry regulations. As a result, the reopening of borders is confusing travelers and businesses and not delivering the expected benefits in terms of easier travel and economic recovery.

***A woman shows her digital COVID-19 certificate at a train station in Milan, Italy, September 1, 2021. REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo***

IATA research has found significant differences in how EU member states are managing travel:

Around 30% of states using the EU Digital Covid Certificate (DCC) are not accepting rapid testing
19% of states are not exempting children from testing requirements
41% of states are not allowing vaccinated travelers from non-EU ‘White-List’ countries to enter

For the Passenger Locator Forms, 45% accept it online, while 33% accept paper and online submissions. But 11% only accept paper, and a further 11% have no locator forms at all.

“It’s essential that European states come together on COVID-19 travel procedures. The good work done by the Commission and the states to develop the DCC is being wasted by a mess of unharmonized regulations. How can passengers travel with confidence when the rules are so different in each country within the European Union? They can’t be sure if their children need to be tested or not, or if they need to fill in a form on paper, online, or not at all. It’s one Europe Union. People reasonably expect a united approach to managing travel,” said Rafael Schvartzman, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Europe.

Specifically, with regard to harmonizing requirements around the DCC, IATA and other stakeholders have urged EU states to:

Conduct DCC verification digitally before passengers arrive at the airport, to limit operational disruptions and give certainty to passengers that they are ready to fly. Germany and Spain are two countries observing best practice in this area.
Develop a state portal to facilitate DCC verification directly by national authorities and limit health data processing by airlines.
Integrate digital Passenger Locator Forms into a state portal for DCC verification, which is not currently the case in 80% of European countries.

FILE PHOTO: A woman shows a COVID-19 health pass in a cafe as France brings in tougher restrictions where a proof of immunity will be required to access most of the public spaces or to travel on an inter-city train in Paris, France, August 9, 2021. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

In addition, EU states need to align on health requirements including:

Universal acceptance of rapid testing in place of expensive and unnecessary PCR tests
Universal exemption of minors from testing and vaccination requirements, and
The universal opening of borders to vaccinated passengers and to allow travelers from low-risk countries to enter Europe without restriction (or with proof of a negative test from non-vaccinated travelers).
The Netherlands, Estonia, Slovenia and Spain are leading the way in aligning these policies.

“The experience over the European summer shows that a standard digital certificate is not enough: the travel processes around COVID-19 must also be harmonized and smoothed out. We urge European states to sort out the current mess and give hard-pressed passengers greater certainty over their travel plans,” said Schvartzman.

WTTC concerned about recommendations on US

Meanwhile, World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has also raised concerns about EU’s recommendation to reimpose restrictions on U.S. travellers and has termed it as a step backwards which will only slow down the recovery of the sector.

Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO said, “With high vaccination levels in both the U.S. and the EU, we should be looking at opening up travel between these two major economies. We need a common set of rules that recognise global vaccines and remove the need to quarantine for people with a negative COVID result.

“The U.S. is a key source market for many EU Member States, such as France, Italy, Germany and Ireland, and tourism will be critical in restoring normal life and tens of thousands of jobs in both the U.S. and the EU.

“Rather than imposing further damaging travel restrictions, the EU should be encouraging Member States to use its groundbreaking Digital COVID Certificate to safely restore international travel, fundamental for the European economy.”