Covid passport comes into effect tonight

You may support the government in their latest measure to try and curb the increase in coronavirus infections, or perhaps you feel they are taking away our personal liberties and discriminating against those exercising their right not to be vaccinated. Either way, the Digital Covid Certificate or Covid Passport, is now a reality, after it was approved by the regional High Court (TSJCV) on Monday, and was today published in the DOCV (Diario Oficial de la Comunitat Valenciana) where new laws are published. So from midnight tonight anyone over 12 will need to show the certificate if they want access to certain places.

As of Thursday 2.9 million Valencians were already in possession of their covid certificate and in the previous seven days more than 720,000 certificates had been downloaded, with an average of 103,000 downloads per day, it was reported by news agency EFE yesterday.

Where do I need to show my covid passport?

You’ll need to show your covid passport if you want to enter any of the following places:

• Hospitality and restaurant establishments with capacity of more than 50.
• Leisure venues like dance halls, nighclubs and other nightlife businesses.
• Casinos, gambling rooms and bingo halls where food is served.
• When visiting hospitals and care homes.
• Music festivals and events with more than 500 people, both indoor and outdoor, when social distancing cannot be maintained.

However, you won’t need your covid certificate in hotels, shops, and other leisure activities like cinemas and theatres.

Where do I get my covid passport?

Downloading the covid digital certificate is very simple. Follow this link and click on “Solicitar certificado Covid Digital UE”. Once you’ve entered your SIP card details you’ll be given three options depending on the type of certificate you want (vaccination, PCR or antigen test, or recovery from Covid). You’ll get an SMS message to confirm and if everything is correct you’ll then be able to download your certificate immediately.

The certificate can be presented in establishments on paper or on a mobile, along with proof of identity and it has a QR code for scanning,

What happens if we don’t comply?

Government sources have said that not complying with the covid passport rules will lead to fines of between 60 and 30,000 euros, it was reported in Valencia Plaza. The infringements will be divided into two types: minor and serious. Minor infringements will apply to individuals and will vary between 60 and 600 euros, while the serious category will be applied to businesses and will be between 600 and 30,000 euros.

For establishments that don’t check covid certificates properly the fines will be between 600 and 30,000 euros, According to Valencia Plaza, a serious breach of the rules would be if venues didn’t request the covid certificate, or other accepted documentation, for entry. Likewise, if an establishment discovers a large number of people inside who don’t have the certificate, but do nothing about it, that too would be considered a serious infringement.

Covid passport keyring

To help Valencians always have their QR code to hand, one innovative company has come up with an ingenious solution, a QR code keyring. The Valencia-based company, Goatxa, which specialises in personalised goods and accessories, offers the covid passport keyring for €9.