Loizidou: No obligation to show certificates about Covid-19 to an employer - What it says about Police

Citizens who hold certificates that they have been vaccinated or have a negative rapid test or PCR or that they have been infected and recovered from Covid-19, if requested, they have the obligation to show them to competent Inspectors or Police, in the context of checks of compliance with applicable Decrees and to any other person, says Personal Data Protection Commissioner Irini Loizidou Nikolaidou, emphasizing that these are protected data.

In a statement, it states that due to questions it receives about when a citizen is obliged to display these certificates, he clarifies that these are health data and according to the General Data Protection Regulation, they should receive increased protection.

Employees, he notes, who have the obligation to hold certificates of negative rapid test or PCR, within the framework of the Decrees for workplaces, have no obligation to present or display them to their employer but, inform him of the result.

At this stage, he says, an employee who has been vaccinated and is exempt from the obligation to undergo rapid test or PCR, for some time, informs his employer about it, but is not required to provide any certificate.

In any case, he adds, the responsibility for proof lies with the person who is required to hold such a certificate.

Citizens, he explains, who hold such certificates, if requested, have the obligation to show them to competent Inspectors or Police, in the context of checks of compliance with applicable Decrees.

"Except for the competent Inspector or the Police, no person has the right to ask a citizen for any certificate, either to be allowed to enter a place, or for any other purpose", he adds.

Due to questions I receive about when a citizen is required to show a certificate that he or she has been vaccinated or has a negative rapid test or PCR or that he or she has been infected and recovered from COVID-19, I would like to clarify the following:

These certificates are health data and according to the General Data Protection Regulation, they should be subject to increased protection.

Employees who are required to hold negative rapid test or PCR certificates under Workplace Ordinances have no obligation to present or display them to their employer, but to inform him of the result.

At this stage, an employee who has been vaccinated and is exempt from the obligation to undergo a rapid test or PCR, for some time, informs his employer, but is not required to provide any certificate.

In any case, the responsibility for proof lies with the person who is required to hold such a certificate.

Citizens who hold such certificates, if requested, have the obligation to show them to competent Inspectors or Police, in the context of checks of compliance with applicable Decrees.

Except for the competent Inspector or the Police, no person has the right to ask a citizen for any certificate, either to be allowed to enter a place, or for any other purpose.