Commission statement on the vaccine export authorisation scheme

To tackle the current lack of transparency of vaccine exports outside the EU, the Commission is putting in place a measure requiring that such exports are subject to an authorisation by Member States.

In the process of finalisation of this measure, the Commission will ensure that the Ireland / Northern Ireland Protocol is unaffected. The Commission is not triggering the safeguard clause.

Should transits of vaccines and active substances toward third countries be abused to circumvent the effects of the authorisation system, the EU will consider using all the instruments at its disposal.

In the process of finalising the document, the Commission will also be fine-tuning the decision-making process under the implementing regulation.

The final version of the implementing regulation will be published following its adoption tomorrow.