Entrepreneurs on COVID Passports: They Are Not Quite Clear to Us

From June 1, travel across borders and entry into closed spaces of restaurants and clubs in Croatia will be possible with the so-called COVID passport. The COVID passport will actually be a QR code that can be scanned upon entering the premises, thus verifying each individual. Citizens will be able to download a free app to read the code on their mobile phones, and the green signal for entry will be given to all who have recovered from COVID-19 within six months, have a negative PCR test not older than 48 hours, or have been vaccinated with both doses.

Verification can be performed by anyone at the entrance to the premises – waiters, drivers, security guards. If someone refuses to verify their QR code, they will not be allowed entry into the premises. Additionally, children will not have COVID passports.

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Hrvoje Bujas

photo Ratko Mavar

—Hrvoje Bujas, president of the Association Voice of Entrepreneurs, is looking forward to the easing of measures and the opening of the vast majority of previously closed activities – indoor parts of hospitality facilities, dance centers, sports activities, and others. However, he points out some ambiguities regarding COVID passports. Given that individuals entering the premises will be verified by scanning the QR code on their mobile phones, many questions remain open:

What about a hotel guest who arrives without a COVID passport, will they be accepted or not?

What if someone does not have a COVID passport, will they be expelled from the hospitality facility?

What will happen to those who have recovered from the coronavirus but are not registered?

Bujas emphasizes that citizens need to be educated about their rights and obligations. On one hand, COVID passports must not infringe on individual freedom, and on the other hand, individuals must not endanger the health of others.

Furthermore, the question arises about what will happen to those who do not wish to be vaccinated. Bujas believes that as many people as possible should be given the opportunity to operate normally, but at the same time, their freedom of choice regarding vaccination should be protected.

– This topic needs to be approached cautiously and with as much education as possible – emphasizes Bujas, adding that people need to be convinced with arguments that the vaccine is effective, not by force.

– It is a fine line that must not be crossed. An ultimate compromise must be found between all rights – both the right to health and the right to one’s choice – stresses Bujas. He adds that by verifying COVID passports, people who are doing their jobs should not be put in the role of ‘police’.

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Andrija Čolak

—Andrija Čolak, founder of the Surf’n’Fries franchise, also says that COVID passports are not entirely clear to him.

– I travel a lot and I know that when, for example, going to South Africa, they check the vaccination card, so I do not understand why they are now ‘reinventing the wheel’ with the introduction of COVID passports. I would say that things are unnecessarily complicated, and in order to return to the ‘old normal’ as soon as possible, things need to be simplified – says Čolak.

He supports the easing of epidemiological measures because he says that in many cases it has been shown that the measures were not effective and that they caused economic damage to many.

– The question is only whether anyone will bear responsibility for that damage – says Čolak.

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Zvonimir Viduka

photo Dražen Lapić

—Zvonimir Viduka, owner of Altpro, a company producing safety devices for railways, says from the perspective of an exporter that his company has adapted to epidemiological measures, but the conditions for travel should be resolved as soon as possible.

– We are interested in being able to travel, that foreigners come, and that customers can come to us. That is our main interest – says Viduka, adding that their business trips during 2020 were more expensive and complicated.

Regarding the measures of easing and COVID passports, he emphasizes that they also depend on the situation in the world, not just in Croatia. Therefore, Viduka believes that ‘as the ship sails, so we will adhere to it’.

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