Traveling abroad – Swiss Covid certificate not recognized by the European Union – News

There is no free pass yet

According to Nassima Mahira, who is responsible for Covid certification at the Federal Office of Public Health, 2.7 million Covid certificates have been issued in Switzerland so far. But this alone is not a free pass to travel across the European Union.

“The Covid certificate facilitates travel because information about vaccination, testing or recovered status can be read from this QR code across the EU or across Europe,” Mahira explains.
However, in many places a PCR test is also required to be allowed into the country.

Delayed by a framework agreement?

The Swiss Covid certification is legally and technically consistent with that of the European Union, which the member states presented on Thursday. But for now at least, Switzerland is not there because the European Union has not officially recognized the Swiss Covid certificate.

A decision from the committee is still needed for this. “Unfortunately, I cannot say exactly when the commission will decide,” Mahira said. Neither BAG nor the FDFA want to comment on whether the failed framework agreement could be responsible for the delay. “We expect it in the coming days,” says Mahira only so much.

The situation can change quickly

On the other hand, BAG advises travelers to clarify the situation in the desired travel destination in detail. This is because each country can also issue its own regulations and local conditions can change very quickly – especially due to the newly emerging delta variant of the coronavirus. In the case of Portugal, for example, the BAG checks whether the country is on the quarantine list.