These certificates began to be issued in Portugal on 16 June and since then more than one million certificates have been made available to state that their bearer has been vaccinated against covid-19, carried out a test with a negative result or has already recovered from the disease, according to a source from the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health.

Following the agreement of the Member States to facilitate the free movement of citizens in the EU in a safe manner during the pandemic, the document, in Portugal, may have other functionalities, as the Government foresees that it can be used in “matters of air traffic and maritime, of circulation in the national territory and access to cultural, sporting, corporate or family events”.

The first practical use of the digital certificate took place over the weekend, as one of the conditions for entering and leaving the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, where there is a high incidence of infections with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

As a document for common and uniform use throughout the EU, as well as in the countries of the European Economic Area - Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway -, it is up to the national authorities to define the rules for its internal use.

Considered by Prime Minister António Costa as one of the priorities of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union, which ended on Wednesday, the political agreement with the European Parliament on this community “free-transit” pass was reached on 20 May , in time to “save” the summer season.

For further information about the certificate, please visit: https://www.sns24.gov.pt/