San Marino approves national green pass, allowing citizens and residents to move freely

The San Marino Great and General Council approves Decree-Law no. 109 of 16 June, which puts in place its own green vaccination pass. This equips citizens, residents and others vaccinated in the territory with a certificate in line with the European Union standards.

The San Marino Digital Covid Certificate covers vaccination against Sars-Cov2, past infection or negative test result. The certificate issued has a validity of 1 week starting 15 days after the first vaccination dose or 9 months from the completed vaccination cycle. The certificate is issued upon personal request, in a paper or digital format, by the ISS or facilities authorized by the San Marino health authorities.

“The San Marino Digital Covid Certificate is an important tool that aligns the Republic with the technological standards used by the European Union, assuring total interoperability while also adding a ‘universal’ certification method based on blockchain technology,” comments Engineer Lorenzo Spadoni, President of San Marino Innovation Added to an individual’s vaccination card, the San Marino Digital Covid Certificate contains two QR codes:

• The first QR code aligns with the European Union requirements and can be instantly verified by approved member states’ entities;
• The second QR code is verifiable by anyone anywhere. Scanning the QR code with any device provides direct access to a web-app where the certificate validity can be checked. This is enabled by linking to a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), i.e. a unique and non-repeatable certificate of digital authenticity guaranteeing immutability and accessibility by being registered on VeChainThor public blockchain.

This innovative solution enables verification of green passes outside the European Union. The San Marino Digital Covid Certificate was developed with the support of VeChain, one of the world’s leading public blockchain platforms. DNV is an independent leader in assessment services and a pioneer in digital assurance solutions development.

Says Renato Grottola, Global Director Growth and Innovation at DNV: “The San Marino Digital Covid Certificate is an extremely portable certificate. Anyone can potentially verify a certificate without the need to download a specific app. The use of VeChain’s blockchain technology and, in particular non-fungible tokens (NFTs), makes it possible to increase confidence in the authenticity of the information, reducing the risk of counterfeiting.”

A national information system has been set up for issuance and validation of certificates. It makes it possible to download the certificate directly from one’s own electronic health record. The personal data processing follows GDPR regulations, preventing any transfer of sensitive data to non-EU countries. Moreover, the minimum set of data required to verify certificate authenticity does not include personal data to avoid having to enter personal information, even if encrypted, in the public registry.

Sunny Lu, CEO of VeChain, said, “Not long after we brought up the idea of enterprise NFT, Digital Covid Certificate presents a perfect case in this sector, which is a also new solution to help the government gain ground in the fight against COVID-19. Based on PoA consensus, VeChainThor public blockchain provides a well balanced infrastructure for the government, public and private sectors to work together to create a single, standardized verification system framework."

The blockchain solution

The San Marino Digital Covid Certificate, using a public key for issuance and validation, has been set up as a national infrastructure at San Marino Innovation S.p.A. This ensures the integrity, authenticity and control of the data contained therein. The entity temporarily performs the functions of Country Signing Certification Authority (CSCA) and is in charge of issuing the Root Certificate for the generation of public and private keys necessary for signing the digital certificates.

The Information Technology Office of ISS acts as the keeper of the Root Certificate and the Signatory of the Documents and is the Single Point Of Contact (SPOC) managing the exchange of public keys with the other states as indicated by the State Congress through a specific resolution.

The solution is derived from synergies created among San Marino Innovation S.p.A. – whose members of the Scientific Committee, i.e. Engineer Valentina Lorini and Engineer Alessandro Rossi, are the technical references – the Social Security Institute – represented by Engineer Filiberto Casali, Head of the ISS IT Service – the joint DNV and VeChain team and the Ministry of Health and Social Security of the Republic of San Marino.

According to the Ministry of Health and Social Security, the extremely efficient development is owed fully to the multi-layered, fruitful collaboration between San Marino’s public entities and private partners DNV and VeChain. The solution and technology behind it was presented in June to the WHO at a European Committee meeting as well as the Russian RDIF fund.