Seven European countries — Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece and Poland — have begun issuing the European Union’s Digital Covid Certificate one month ahead of the full 1 July rollout announced last week.

The EU Gateway system that enables the EU-wide authentication of the Digital Covid Certificate using electronic signature keys has also gone live, the European Commission has confirmed.

“All member states, which have passed the technical tests and are ready to issue and verify certificates, can now start using the system on a voluntary basis,” the commission says.

“Already today, seven Member States — Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Croatia and Poland— have decided to connect to the gateway and started issuing [the] first EU certificates, while certain countries have decided to launch the EU Digital Covid Certificate only when all functions are deployed nationwide.

“Therefore, more countries will join in the coming days and weeks.”

Switzerland’s National Cyber Security Centre has also announced that it has launched a “public security test” of its digital covid certificate — which will be compatible with the EU system — and that Swiss authorities plan to start issuing the certificate next week.

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