NECSTouR and the other members of the Tourism Manifesto (70 public and private travel and tourism organisations) propose several amendments to the European Commission for the new EU Digital COVID Certificate Regulation with the aim to secure the freedom of movement across the continent and guarantee harmonised rules when the Certificate is in use.

You can download the press release here, with the full list of amendments proposed by the alliance.

The European Tourism Manifesto alliance, the voice of the travel and tourism sector in Europe, welcomes the European Commission’s proposal that amends and extends the use of the EU Digital COVID Certificate (EUDCC) to facilitate free movement during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While we see the restrictions related to COVID-19 in most Member States being lifted and we are looking into the recovery of travel in Europe this summer, the role of the EU Digital COVID Certificate remains crucial to enable the gradual restoration of extra-European tourism arrivals. We believe that a more ambitious approach is needed to fulfil and enhance the role of the EU Digital COVID Certificate as one of the key digital solutions to restore international mobility and the de-facto global standard.

The Tourism Manifesto believe the limited scope of the current Regulation and its proposed amendment is also creating vaccine inequalities among EU citizens. In an effort to enlarge the scope of the vaccines that may be used as the basis for the issuance of an EUDCC, we propose to adapt the Regulation to include all vaccines that have completed the World Health Organization (WHO) emergency use listing procedure.