The EU Digital COVID Certificate serves as digital proof that a person has either:
The EU Digital COVID Certificate is valid in all EU Member States, as well as in Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein and it is expected to facilitate safe, free movement within the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The certificate allows you to travel safely and easily within the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its unique QR code enables direct verification preventing the use of false certificates all over Europe.
Holders of the EU Digital COVID Certificate of vaccination and recovery shall not be tested or placed in quarantine when travelling within the EU. Holders of the EU Digital COVID Certificate of laboratory testing may be additionally tested depending on the conditions set out by each State, e.g., passengers traveling to the Republic of Cyprus from countries of red category shall be tested for a second time.
For more information before travelling, you may consult the Re-open EU website or application (reopen.europa.eu) or the national authorities of your country of destination.
The EU Digital COVID Certificate aims at facilitating safe and free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic within the EU for all citizens being in the EU.
EU can also accept Digital COVID Certificates issued by third countries. A list with the countries already using the EU issuing certificate system can be found in this link https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/coronavirus-response/safe-covid-19-vaccines-europeans/eu-digital-covid-certificate_el#-covid---2 .
All COVID certificates issued by the countries in the list are recognized by the EU and validated the same as the EU Digital COVID Certificate. The same applies for the EU Digital COVID Certificate validation in the counties of the list.
The certificate is neither a pre-condition to exercise the rights of free movement nor a travel document. In order to travel you must have the necessary identification documents.
The certificate verifies that a person has either been vaccinated against COVID-19 or received a negative test result or recovered from COVID-19. It is in the discretion of each country to set out and amend the validity period of the above and at the same time to define the conditions of issuing and accepting these certificates (e.g., accepted vaccines, period of time to elapse after vaccination, period of time to elapse after the first positive test result).
In Cyprus, the Certificate may be issued in the following 3 cases:
CovScan mobile app uses the National business rules to verify EU Digital COVID Certificates and returns VALID (rules as of 18-10-2021)
The EU Digital COVID Certificate may be issued for the following categories of citizens:
It is noted that international protection applicants and those under subsidiary protection status are not eligible.
Vaccination certificates shall be issued to those who have been vaccinated at the Vaccination Centres of the Republic of Cyprus, with the vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (Janssen/Johnson & Johnson, Vaxzervia Vaccine (AstraZeneca), Comirnaty, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna).
The EU Digital COVID Certificate may be issued in electronic and printed format. It will contain a QR code with a digital stamp that will ensure its authenticity and will be verified by scanning the code. Its content is available in both Greek and English, and it is issued free of charge.
The certificate contains a QR code with a digital signature to protect it against falsification. The European Commission has developed a gateway through which all the signatures of the certificates issued by the Member States shall be verified across the EU, by scanning the QR code.
Each Issuing Authority in the EU Member States has its own digital signature key. All of these are stored in a secure database in each country.
The EU Digital COVID Certificate contains a limited amount of necessary information. In particular, the certificate contains the following:
These data remain on the certificate and are neither stored nor maintained during the verification of a certificate in another Member State. Moreover, all technical and organisational measures are taken to ensure the protection of the citizens’ personal data.
The competent authorities for the issue of the certificate are the national health authorities of each country. The competent authority for Cyprus is the Ministry of Health and the EU Digital COVID Certificate is issued by the citizens themselves through the platform www.eudcc.gov.cy.
Moreover, in case a citizen is unable to issue the certificate electronically he may contact the Citizen Service Centres (KEP) and the Citizens Centres (KE.PO) to book an appointment in order to obtain the certificate.
Once the certificate is issued, you may download it in PDF format, send it by email or print it. Furthermore, the certificate may be stored in a mobile phone through the wallet application CovPass, supported by Android and iOS. It is noted that if you use the CovPass application, the certificate may be stored only in one device per beneficiary.
The certificate will be issued by the health authorities. The use of self-test is not accepted.
The User Guide explaining in detail the procedure for issuing the EU Digital COVID Certificate is available on the platform www.eudcc.gov.cy.
For assistance, you may contact the COVID-19 Call Centre at:
or via email at info@eudcc.gov.cy.
To correct your details, you can contact the COVID-19 Call Center at 1474 for Cypriot numbers (+357 22285757 for foreign numbers) and/or the Citizens Service Center KEP/KEPO.
The EU Digital COVID Certificate is available in all EU Member States as of 01 July 2021. For Cyprus, there will be a six-week transition period during which both the EU Digital Certificates and the existing certificates will be accepted. After that period the use of the EU Digital Certificate will become mandatory as proof of vaccination and recovery, while in regards to proof of laboratory testing, the certificates valid to date will continue to be accepted.
The validity period of the certificate depends on the scientific data and is determined by the competent authorities according to the national policies of each country. For Cyprus:
Before travelling, you may visit the website of or use the app Re-open EU (reopen.europa.eu) where you can find information about the rules and policies of all EU Member States (e.g. travel directories) or/and consult the national authorities of your country of destination. It is reminded that each country of destination shapes its own national policies. As to the travel directories of the Republic of Cyprus, citizens may also visit the website www.cyprusflightpass.gov.cy.
The certificate is issued free of charge.
The certificate is issued for everybody regardless of age provided that the vaccination, recovery or laboratory testing has been entered in the database of the Ministry of Health.
The authenticity of the EU Digital COVID Certificate shall be checked by the Aliens and Migration Department when entering the Republic of Cyprus.
The EU and the World Health Organisation are making efforts to ensure that the certificate will be compatible with digital certificate systems that are used or developed by third countries.
