The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted, on Tuesday 22 June - by 96 votes in favour, 2 against and 16 abstentions, - a Resolution specifying the preconditions for the introduction of Covid certificates planned by some Member States and the European Union.
These conditions relate to the legal basis of these ‘passes’ (which is the responsibility of parliaments) and the guarantees they offer from the point of view of respect for fundamental rights as defined by the Council of Europe’s standards in terms of data protection, respect for privacy, protection against counterfeiting and - most importantly - the fight against all forms of discrimination.
“It will not be enough to say that those who have been vaccinated, cured or tested can return to normal life and those who have not cannot”, stressed the rapporteur Damien Cottier (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Switzerland) in an introductory statement, in which he also insisted on access to public services for all and on the cost of testing, which should not be excessive.
“These are essential obligations for states. But it is also a political issue. We must avoid dividing our societies”.
The Resolution also states that ‘passes’ should take into account the respective efficacy of different vaccines, including variants, and the degree of risk associated with the different activities to which they may give access, particularly if the holders are likely to come into contact with persons who are not yet immunised.
These passes’ whose use must be “strictly limited in application and duration to the needs of the Covid-19 public health emergency” without “the infrastructure involved” being “repurposed for other aims without prior democratic scrutiny and effective legal oversight”.
Link to the Resolution: https://bit.ly/3gPh2Q3 (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)