EU announces cross-territory contact-tracing app gateway

While other countries, most notably the UK, struggle to launch contact-tracing apps to help prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, nations in the European Union (EU) have moved up a gear as they begin initial testing of the previously announced interoperability gateway service linking national apps across the EU.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, member states, backed by the European Commission (EC), have been assessing the effectiveness, security, privacy and data protection aspects of digital solutions to address the crisis.

In April, and as part of a common coordinated approach to support the gradual lifting of confinement measures that had been implemented across the EU, member states, supported by the EC, announced the development of a toolbox for the use of mobile applications for contact tracing and warning in response to the coronavirus pandemic. It stated that contact-tracing apps, if well-coordinated and fully compliant with EU rules, could play a key role in all phases of crisis management, especially when time will be ripe to gradually lift social distancing measures.

And even as lockdowns were eased across the member states, in June 2020, member states agreed on an interoperability solution for mobile tracing and warning apps that had been introduced across the individual territories. The member states, with the support of the EC, agreed on a set of technical specifications to ensure a safe exchange of information between national contact-tracing apps based on a decentralised architecture. The aim was that once the technical solution was deployed, such national apps would work seamlessly when users travelled to another EU country which also followed the decentralised approach.

In practice, proximity information shared between apps will be exchanged in an encrypted way that prevents the identification of an individual person, in line with the EU guidelines on data protection for apps. No geolocation data will be used. To support further streamlining of the system, the EC said it would set up a gateway service, an interface to efficiently receive and pass on relevant information from national contact-tracing apps and servers.

“Coronavirus tracing and warning apps working across borders can be powerful tools in our efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19. If used widely enough, they can help us break the chains of transmission”