Russian lower house drops bill on COVID-19 certificates

The Russian State Duma (lower house) has unanimously decided to withdraw the bill on introducing COVID-19 certificates with QR codes for visiting public places, Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said on his Telegram channel.

"The State Duma unanimously dropped the bill on [introducing] QR codes," the senior lawmaker revealed.

The chairman of the lower house also thanked people for the feedback received while discussing the draft law. Earlier, Volodin’s post relating to the bill on the COVID-19 certificates with QR codes gained 1 mln views and over 700,000 comments. The Russian parliamentarian noted that the deputies received more than 120,000 official appeals concerning this initiative.

"It is essential to listen to each other. This will help to avoid mistakes and hammer out the right decisions based on dialogue," the State Duma’s chairman emphasized.

On January 14, Russian Deputy Prime Minister for Social Policy Tatyana Golikova revealed that the government, together with the United Russia ruling party, decided to suspend the bill on the COVID-19 certificates amid the epidemiological situation in the country.

According to the suggested amendments, Russia’s adult population would be able to visit public places only with either a QR code confirming vaccination, a document certifying that a person had recovered from COVID-19, or a medical exemption from inoculation. This measure does not affect pharmacies, grocery stores and shops with essential goods.