From this Friday, Turkey, Ukraine and North Macedonia will accept the European corona certificate for inbound travellers. At the same time, the certificates issued by those countries are also accepted in the EU. The European Commission announces this.

In principle, anyone possessing a (digital) corona certificate can travel freely in the European Union. All 27 Member States have joined the European platform to read and recognize each other’s certificates. With the certificate, you can prove that you have been fully vaccinated, passed a negative PCR test, or protected by antibodies from a previous infection.

Several non-EU countries have now joined the system. After Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, San Marino and Vatican City, Turkey, Ukraine, and North Macedonia are now also participating. Conversely, the EU also accepts the certificates that those countries issue.

Travelers who can present a valid European corona certificate do not, in principle, need to be quarantined or tested if they travel to a country that accepts the certificate.

Different countries have different rules. In France, for example, the certificate is already valid from 7 days after the second dose of the vaccine and children under 12 are exempt, while Italy requires the certificate for children from 6 years. In Italy, you are also not considered fully vaccinated until 14 days after the second vaccination. You can find the rules for the country you travel to on the Foreign Affairs or Your Europe website.

The European corona certificate has been in force in the EU since 1 July. Since then, the list of countries using it has expanded. The committee is working on further developing the system in more non-EU countries. The different systems are linked together so that the authenticity and validity of a certificate can be checked.

“I am pleased that the list of countries that are rolling out a system based on the European digital corona certificate is growing steadily and that we are setting an international standard,” said European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders. “This helps us to enable safe travel, including beyond the borders of our Union.”