About Certificate
What is the EU Digital Covid Certificate?
Poland takes an active part in the process of development of the EU Digital Covid Certificate The legislative process runs in parallel with the development of the technical solution, both centrally (at the EU level) and at the Member States level.
EU Digital Covid Certificate will facilitate safe and free movement of EU citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic within the EU area.
The system of EU Digital Covid Certificate is created to eliminate differences in public health measures impeding the free movement and introduced by Member States. At the same time, the certificate will not be a pre-condition to travel, nor will be granting such right unconditionally.
EU Digital Covid Certificate is an electronic proof that a given person:
- has recovered from COVID-19
- has received a negative test result for COVID-19
- has been vaccinated against COVID-19
Most important features of the certificate:
- digital form or hard copy
- QR code
- free of charge
- in national language and in English
- safe and secure
- valid in all EU countries
How to receive a EU Digital Covid Certificate?
Directly by a citizen:
- Patient Internet Account (IKP) – pacjent.gov.pl,
- mojeIKP application (available from 25.06.)
- mObywatel application (available from 25.06.)
In health care facilities:
- through gabinet.gov.pl application
- External systems of GDP’s facilities.
Important notice!
Foreign nationals residing in Poland and authorised to receive the certificate would either need to have a personal registration number (Pesel) in order to access Patient’s Internet Account, or alternatively, they would need to provide a Polish mobile phone number or email details at the vaccination point/healthcare facility (in order to have the certificate sent by the means of MMS or email (coming soon). Until this solution is developed and deployed foreign nationals without the pesel identification number would receive certificates in a hard-copy form at the vaccination points/ healthcare facilities upon request.
How the EU Digital Covid Certificate will function?
Certificates issued will be verified in Poland with a dedicated mobile verification application – Unijny Certyfikat Covid (EU Covid Certificate) and with a bespoke tool of the National Border Guard. The app, available from the 10th of June on iOS and Android platforms, will enable verification of the QR code placed on each certificate.
Thanks to this solution the person conducting the verification can check whether the holder of the certificate has a valid status – because he/she has been vaccinated against COVID-19, has a negative test result or has recovered from COVID-19. Based on that the person can cross the internal borders of the EU.
In addition, the app will verify whether the QR code was issued by a certified institution. The app Unijny Certyfikat Covid (EU Covid Certificate). will be able to download public keys for certificate verification thanks to integration of the e-health system (P1) with the European Gateway server maintained by the European Commission (EU Digital Covid Certificate Gateway), which will store all public keys for certificates issued by Member States.
The European Commission envisages that the regulation on the EU Digital Covid Certificate will enter into force on the 1st of July 2021.
The certificate will be easy to read thanks to the QR code. It will be available in a digital form – through an app or in hard copy. This will not constitute a pre-condition to move freely around the European Union. It is only aimed to facilitate freedom of movement for EU inhabitants, including the Poles and third-country nationals staying or residing in the EU countries, who have the right to travel to other Member States.
The QR code can be read with the use of an app and QR code readers, which relevant officers will have access to.
Poland as one of the first few Member States developed a national digital vaccination certificate based on a QR code, used for presentation of a narrow scope of anonymized information. Every vaccinated person has an access to the certificate through the Patient Internet Account. The system of EU Digital Covid Certificate will replace the national solution and expand its functionalities.