The interconnection testing performed by the Special Telecommunications Service (STS) with the technical working group at European level was successfully performed. The IT system under development at STS facilitates generation EU COVID digital certificates, the transmission of the security elements that allow the verification, their centralization in the European gateway and the validation of the QR codes by the other member states of the European Union.
During Wednesday, May 26, 2021, according to the programming established at European level, Romania performed the interconnection test at the EU gateway that centralizes and manages the public keys of the member countries, necessary for the verification of digital signatures. The testing was carried out jointly with Latvia.
For the implementation of EU digital certificates in our country, STS has developed the communications infrastructure and information system that allow interconnection with the European gateway. During the test, the public key of the DSC certificate (document signing certificate) was uploaded to the EU gateway (DGCG) for centralization. With the help of the private key, the EU digital certificates issued by Romania will be signed.
The EU digital certificate contains essential identification data.
The EU digital certificate contains essential identification data - name and surname, date of birth, issuing Member State, medical data concerning the category for which the document is issued, as well as a unique identifier of the certificate.
After the implementation of the computer system in our country, the taking over of the data that will be included in the EU digital certificates will be done automatically from the National Electronic Vaccination Register for people vaccinated against COVID-19, from the Corona-Forms application for people who have a negative test. the last 72 hours and people who have recovered after being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The certificates will be issued in digital format, with the possibility of being displayed on the smartphone, but they will also be able to be presented in printed form. These will include a QR code that will contain a digital signature, so that, when reading it, the authenticity, integrity and validity of the document can be verified. The digital signature belongs to the issuer, so citizens will not need a digital signature.
EU digital certificates are free and will facilitate travel in the European space without epidemiological restrictions, without restricting freedom of movement.
The next step includes the completion of the secure portal from which citizens will be able to download their EU digital certificates and the internal performance of performance and security tests of the information system.
According to the European work schedule, EU digital certificates will be implemented in early July. From a technical point of view, STS specialists will be able to ensure the implementation of the IT system in accordance with the schedule established by EU experts.