People from Serbia who plan to travel to EU countries should apply for an EU certificate starting Friday, the director of Serbian e-Government Office, Mihailo Jovanovic, told N1 on Tuesday.

The old digital certificates would still be valid in Serbia, he added, but the EU-compatible one would be added.

“This also applies to people who come to Serbia from the EU. It will be possible to read the QR code at the borders, but our citizens will also be able to move with it,” Jovanovic said.

The document will show how many vaccines people have received, Jovanovic said, but warned that each country treats vaccines differently, Therefore, those who travel abroad should look at the countries’ websites or the Serbian Foreign Ministry website.

EU member states set different conditions when recognising vaccines and do not accept certificates of those who received the Russian and Chinese vaccines, since they were not approved by the European Medicines Agency.

“We remind you that the decision of the European Commission, that the digital green certificate of Serbia matches the EU’s digital COVID-19 certificate, comes into force today. The decision does not mean that Serbian nationals with a digital green certificate will automatically enter all EU countries. It will depend on each country and the vaccines it recognises”, Jovanovic said.

There are also differing approaches in recognising the confirmation of previous infection.

An overview of country restrictions is available at https://reopen.europa.eu/en