In Parliament
Oral Reply by Senior Minister of State for Transport Chee Hong Tat to Parliamentary Question on Recognition and Authentication of Health Passports Issued by the International Air Transport Association and Individual Countries
6 July 2021
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Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for Transport
a. whether he can provide an update on the recognition of health passports issued by the International Air Transport Association and individual countries; and
b. how can the Singapore Government verify the authenticity of the Immunity Health Passport issued by the respective countries with regard to personal immunisation records and COVID-19 test results.
Reply by Senior Minister of State for Transport Chee Hong Tat:
1. IATA has been working with various countries and regions, including Singapore, to include vaccination certificates in the IATA Travel Pass (ITP) application.
2. Since 1 May 2021, passengers travelling to Singapore have been able to use the ITP to share their pre-departure PCR test results when checking-in with their airlines, as well as on-arrival at the immigration checkpoints at Changi Airport.
3. Singapore is also in bilateral discussions with several countries on establishing mechanisms for the mutual recognition of vaccination certificates, including with Australia, Malaysia and Republic of Korea. We have set up interagency bilateral working groups with these countries and are exchanging information on how we may mutually verify the authenticity of each other’s certificates. This includes the exchange of public keys for the verification of digital certificates, and the exchange of specimen copies for the verification of physical ones.
4. These discussions will likely take some time, as countries and regions are at different stages of progress in vaccinating their respective populations. Nonetheless, these multilateral and regional discussions are useful in laying the groundwork for us to reopen travel for vaccinated individuals between Singapore and these countries when we are ready to do so.