The EDPB and the EDPS, the European Data Protection Board and the European Data Protection Supervisor, adopted on Wednesday 16 March a joint opinion on the Commission’s proposals to extend the current EU Covid digital certificate regulation by 12 months.
While the EU Council has adopted its mandate (see EUROPE 12905/16), both bodies say they understand the need to extend the applicability of the regulation “given the impossibility of predicting a possible prolongation of the pandemic”.
However, they insist on the need to “regularly evaluate the relevant scientific evidence and additional measures in place” and regret the lack of an impact assessment.
The modification of some data fields, such as the clarification that vaccination certificates must contain the number of doses administered to the holder or the proposal to make participants in clinical trials for the development of Covid-19 vaccines eligible for a vaccination certificate, “appears to be limited to what is strictly necessary and does not raise any particular concerns from a data protection perspective” the two bodies say.
But “any modification of data fields might require a re-evaluation of the risks to fundamental rights and that only more detailed data fields falling under the already defined categories of data should be added through the adoption of delegated acts”.
Link to the opinion: https://aeur.eu/f/sk (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)