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Australia's international covid certificate

Hi all

Any thoughts why Australia is not included in below- quote from traveller.com -also what might I do to obtain a EU DCC to travel in Spain
https://www.traveller.com.au/australias-vaccine-certificates-not-accept-in-some-eu-countries-h207gy

This problem is not insurmountable. The EU has a Digital COVID Certificate that allows free travel across its borders and entry to indoor venues. That certificate is available to non-EU citizens vaccinated outside the EU provided their country is a member of the EU's Digital COVID Certificate (EU DCC) program. Several non-European countries are, including Panama, Ukraine and, since mid-November, New Zealand, but not Australia.

Cheers

Posted by
546 posts

At the risk of a tautology, Australia is not included in the list of countries in the EU DCC program because Australia does not issue certificates that are compatible with the EU DCC standard.

Here is the list of the 33 non-EU states (which as you have mentioned above, include New Zealand) that do issue such certificates.

For Australia to do so, it would have to issue QR codes that meet the EU standards (here are the technical details) so that when you scanned an Australian QR code with an EU scanning app, it would show up as valid. (And vice versa -- Australian QR scanning apps would be required to successfully scan all EU and any EU DCC-compatible QR codes).

As the article says, it's not insurmountable (the UK for example joined in late October and New Zealand in mid-November, both obviously well after their vaccination programs had begun) but it does require work and negotiation to make the certificates compatible.

Posted by
6177 posts

Because the Australian government has not shown any interest in getting EU-compatible vaccine certificates. The EU Digital COVID Certificate system is open to other countries and as mentioned, many non-European countries have joined. But it is up to each country to sign up or not, and Australia has not.

Maybe there is something going on in the background though, who knows? Contact your politicians and ask they why they haven't taken up EU's offer?

Posted by
4 posts

Thanks Guys

So how would that look like for me if say I travelled to Spain in April- would I have issues in restaurants/venues and so on.
I believe entering Spain from Australia is straightforward enough with no restrictions.

Cheers