The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday announced that the country’s VaxCertPH is now being accepted and recognized by the European Union Digital COVID-19 Certificate (EU DCC).
In a press release, the DFA said VaxcertPH has been accepted for use across all EU countries.
“The Philippines Covid-19 digital vaccination certificate or VaxCertPH is now accepted and recognized by the European Union Digital Covid-19 Certificate (EU DCC) system for use across all the member states of and within the EU community,” the DFA said.
“Holders of the EU DCC, in turn, can look forward to its digital verification upon presentation at Philippine ports of entry. Prior to onboarding, recognition of VaxCertPH was through bilateral arrangements with the confines of borders of individual EU members,” it added.
As a result of VaxCertPH’s onboarding into the EUDCC, it has received technical acceptance and is now viewed uniformly with all other EU DCC certifications that have been issued and are recognized by EU member states. The Philippines will treat EU DCC certificates given at international ports of entry with the same respect.
“The landmark accomplishment ensures the seamless, expedited, safe travel and mobility of Filipinos to and within the EU and other jurisdictions that subscribe to the EUDCC standard. Outside the EU, the EU DCC has 48 non-EU countries and territories as part of the system,” said the DFA statement.
With its acceptance by the European Union, VaxCertPH is now recognized in 94 countries and territories, making it one of the most commonly recognized vaccination certificates in the world.
VaxCertPH is one of the few vaccination certificates that comply with the EU DCC standard as well as the Digital Infrastructure for Verifiable Open Credentialing (DIVOC) standard, where VaxCertPH is already recognized by leading trading, investment, tourist and Filipino migrant destinations as well as Philippine partner countries.
The European Commission established the EU DCC, an integrated certification system with a built-in gateway, to make it easier and faster to verify certified signatures within the EU. The gateway’s functions are restricted to verifying the digital signatures found in vaccination certificates in light of strict data privacy laws in the EU. It does not process the personal data of certificate holders.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Health (DOH), Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) and Department of Tourism (DOT) worked together to successfully onboard the VaxCertPH to the EU DCC.