For all those wishing to walk through the streets of Greece, visit the antiquities or just enjoy the changing of the guards at Greek Parliament while viewing the Christmas lights at Syntagma Square, it is finally possible to do this now that Australia has opened its borders.

Travel, however, looks different during the pandemic as new systems are put in place to ensure safe travel. Along with new systems, come glitches, as readers told Neos Kosmos the Australian QR code is not in line with EUDCC, meaning that the Australian travel certificate is somewhat useless abroad.

The smartraveller.gov.au site states that “Australian and non-EU certificates are currently not compatible with digital systems used to check certificates . You should be prepared to present a printed copy of your vaccination certificate along with your identity document.”

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Bob Daniel at Guidepost Tours said: “We also have a standard QR double vax certificate issued by Medicare which allows us entry to restaurants and other venues is compatible to other venues. There was a lot of discussion previously when it was known this would not be accepted internationally. Maybe some people are trying to use this domestic QR certificate.”

The government of Greece is currently establishing processes where foreign vaccination certificates that meet certain criteria, such as Australia’s international vaccination certificates, can be used as proof of vaccination.

The international COVID-19 vaccination certificate uses a secure QR code in a format called Visible Digital Seal for Non-Constrained Environments (VDS-NC), which the International Civil Aviation Organization has specified as its standard for digital vaccination certificates due to its connection to e-passport technology. Though this can be authenticated by e-passport readers, there are currently collaborations underway to create solutions the interoperability of different vaccination certificate formats.

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