The European Commission has amended the implementing regulation extending the validity of the Covid-19 vaccine transparency and export licensing mechanism until 30 June, according to the publication of the text in the Official Journal of the European Union on Thursday 6 May.
The three countries of the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) are now on the list of countries exempted from the mechanism. This means that exports of vaccines to these countries will no longer require authorisation by the Commission and the Member State where the exporting company is located.
A Commission spokeswoman on trade issues, Miriam García Ferrer, explained that the three newly exempted countries were exempted because they are largely integrated into the single market.
The Implementing Regulation states that “most exports to the EEA’s EFTA Member States consist of a vaccine purchased by a Member State under an advance purchase contract concluded by the Union and resold to these countries”. She added: “We decided that it was not worth continuing to include these countries in the mechanism. The situation is different for Switzerland or other countries that continue to be subject to the mechanism”.
The EU exported a total of 178 million doses to 45 countries between 31 January and 3 May under this licensing mechanism.
See the implementing regulation: https://bit.ly/3toxFVT (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)