European Commission (EC) announced that the EU Digital COVID Certificate Gateway went live on 1 June, 2021, a month ahead of the deadline. The EU certificate was proposed by the EC to resume safe intra-EU travelling this summer. Certificates will be available for free of charge in digital format or on paper. The certificate will serve as a proof that a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19, tested negative, or recovered from an infection. The EU gateway -the technical backbone of the EU certificates -provides for the verification of the security features contained in the QR codes of all certificates. This will allow EU citizens and authorities to ensure that certificates are authentic. 

Since 10 May 2021, 22 EU countries have tested the gateway successfully. All member states that have passed the technical tests and are ready to issue and verify certificates, are now allowed to use the system on a voluntary basis. As of 1 June 2021 Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Croatia, and Poland have connected to the gateway and started issuing EU certificates. Most countries will join in the coming weeks as some decided to launch the EU Certificate only when all functions are deployed nationwide.