Belgium throws its citizens as food for the WHO !

Cooperation Agreement dated Feb. 8, which specifies that the management of public keys for the control of the signature of certificates will be transferred from UE to the World Health Organization.

https://notrebondroit.be/blog/accord-cooperation-8-fevrier-2024-cst

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The Brussels Parliament recently adopted a decree modifying the legal framework around the use of the Covid Safe Ticket (CST), a tool that has become central in the management of the Covid19 pandemic.

Historical review.

A strategic agreement between the European Commission and the WHO.

On November 30, 2022, Commissioner Kyriakides, mandated by person, reached an agreement with Dr Tedros of the WHO, to strengthen strategic cooperation on global health issues.

Thus, the World Health Organization and the European Commission announced the launch of a major partnership in the field of digital health.

WHO will adopt the European Union's COVID-19 digital certification system to establish a global system facilitating global mobility and protecting citizens around the world from current and future health threats, including pandemics.

Notre Bon Droit had reacted at BAM!, to denounce on the one hand the coup of force of the European Commission and on the other hand, all the questions which arise in terms of legality.

A few months later, we had an answer to our existential question: how was the European Commission going to delegate all public health decisions to the WHO without modifying the Treaties?

Proposal for revising the Union treaties:

Here is a short summary of the Treaty reform proposals :

EU competences:

- Establishment of exclusive EU competence in matters of environment and biodiversity and shared competences in matters of public health, civil protection , industry, and education.

There was then one problem to resolve: the European legal basis for the European Digital Certificate ended in June 2022.

On what legal basis would the future WHO digital certificate be able to be established?

I provided a possible answer in the interview given to BAM! at the time: by extending the legal bases of national digital certificates.

Which brings us to the recent modifications to the Decree of the Brussels Parliament on the CST.

What changes have been made?

This is a cooperation agreement dated February 8, 2024 between the Belgian federal state, the communities (Flemish, French, and German-speaking), the Common Community Commission, the Walloon Region, and the French Community Commission.

This agreement mainly concerns the modification of article 14, § 1, of the cooperation agreement of July 14, 2021, aimed at determining an explicit retention period for data linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, set at 15 days after the publication of the royal decree declaring the end of the state of Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic.

The agreement also modifies the provisions relating to the establishment and issuance of the EU digital COVID certificate to "facilitate" free movement during the pandemic, from July 1, 2023 .

It specifies that the management of public keys for the control of the signature of certificates, which was previously carried out by the European Union, will be transferred to the World Health Organization (WHO) via the global certification system (Global Digital Health Certification Network) .

In addition, the agreement reintroduces certain provisions which were in force from June 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021, and which will be applicable again from July 1, 2023.

The provisions that were in force from June 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021 and which will be reintroduced from July 1, 2023 mainly concern the management and use of the EU Digital COVID Certificate.

From July 1, 2023, responsibility for the management of these public keys, essential for verifying the authenticity of certificates, will no longer be ensured by the European Union but by the World Health Organization (WHO) through the Global Digital Health Certification Network .

This is therefore a transition towards management by the WHO of digital certificates in order to monitor our movements, or even prevent them.

The extension of the period of application of the validity of measures linked to the use and management of the EU digital COVID certificate ensures that the provisions adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic remain in force throughout the beyond the period initially planned.

In particular, the extension of the period of application indicates that certain measures, which were temporary and intended to expire on a given date, will now be applicable for an extended period.

This includes, for example, the retention period of personal data linked to the EU digital COVID certificate, the arrangements for issuing and monitoring these certificates, as well as the specific rules regarding the free movement of people within the EU. EU and potentially with other countries

Measures which have, however, already been contested, at the time of Covid19.

However, certain provisions have previously been contested.

The Cooperation Agreement of February 8 addresses the conditions under which the reintroduction of contested regulatory texts can be considered acceptable, by referring to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, particularly in the presence of exceptional circumstances or reasons of general interest .

“Exceptional circumstances” and “reasons of general interest” are examples of criteria which justify, according to the legislator, such a reintroduction.

This was unfortunately to be expected from the moment when the Constitutional Court was content, with regard to the CST, like the pandemic laws, to be the government's after-sales service.

The steamroller is always moving.