CommonPass Digital Health Pass and Global Trust Framework Launches toEnable Safer Travel and Accelerate Border Reopenings●●●Trials to begin between London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore with Cathay PacificAirways and United Airlines, enabling travellers to start sharing certified COVID-19 test statusacross borders for the first time
Launched by The World Economic Forum and The Commons Project Foundation, a Swiss-based
non-profit building digital services for the common goodUnited States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and US Centers for Disease Control andPrevention (CDC) to observe trials

October 7, 2020, GENEVA – The Commons Project Foundation and the World Economic Forum today
announced international trials starting this week for CommonPass, a digital health pass for travellers tosecurely document their certified COVID-19 test status while keeping their health data private.
CommonPass is built on the CommonPass Framework that establishes standard methods for lab results
and vaccination records to be certified and enables governments to set and verify their own healthcriteria for travellers.
The purpose of CommonPass and the CommonPass Framework is to enable safer airline and crossborder travel by giving both travellers and governments confidence in each traveller's verified COVID-19status.
At present, COVID-19 test results for travel are frequently shared on printed paper - or photos of thepaper - from unknown labs, often written in languages foreign to those inspecting them. There is nostandard format or certification system.
“Travel and tourism has been down across the board due to the COVID pandemic.” said Diane Sabatino,
Deputy Executive Director, Office of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “CBP wants
to be part of the solution to build confidence in air travel, and we are glad to help the aviation industry
and our federal partners stand up a pilot like CommonPass.”
Cathay Pacific Airways and United Airlines will trial the system in October with select volunteers onflights between London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore, with government authorities observing.
Deployments are planned with additional airlines and routes across Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe
and the Middle East in quick succession.
To use CommonPass, travellers take a COVID-19 test at a certified lab and upload the results to theirmobile phone. They then complete any additional health screening questionnaires required by thedestination country.

With test results and questionnaire complete, CommonPass confirms a traveller’s compliance with thedestination country entry requirements and generates a QR code. That code can be scanned by airline
staff and border officials. A QR code can be printed for users without mobile devices.
CommonPass adheres to tight privacy principles and is designed to protect personal data in compliancewith relevant privacy regulations, including GDPR.
For governments, CommonPass and the CommonPass Framework provide a more reliable means ofassessing the health status of incoming travellers and gives them the flexibility to adapt their entry
requirements as the pandemic evolves, including whether and what type of lab tests or vaccinations torequire.
“Without the ability to trust COVID-19 tests - and eventually vaccine records - across international
borders, many countries will feel compelled to retain full travel bans and mandatory quarantines for as
long as the pandemic persists,” said Dr. Bradley Perkins, Chief Medical Officer of The Commons Projectand former Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC). “With trusted individual health data, countries can implement more nuanced health screening
requirements for entry.”
Perkins added that the ability to share health information in a verifiable, safe and privacy protecting
manner is key to opening borders, whether travelling by land or air.
CommonPass and the CommonPass Framework are being launched by the World Economic Forum and The
Commons Project, a Swiss-based non-profit foundation building global digital services and platforms forthe common good, in collaboration with a broad coalition of public and private partners around the world,
including government representatives from 37 countries across six continents.
"Individual national responses will not be sufficient to address this global crisis,” said Christoph Wolff,
Head of Mobility at the World Economic Forum. "Bans, bubbles and quarantines may provide short term
protection, but developed and developing nations alike need a long-term, flexible, and risk-based
approach like CommonPass."
The goal of the trials is to replicate the full traveller experience of taking a test for COVID-19 prior todeparture, uploading the result to their phones, and demonstrating their compliance with entry
requirements at their departure and destination airports.
For Cathay Pacific Airways, the first internal trial is planned for a flight between Hong Kong International
Airport and Singapore Changi International Airport, using rapid testing technology provided by Prenetics.
“Our goal is to test and refine a system that would best support the progressive and safe re-opening oftravel, through the adoption of a trusted and harmonized global framework” said Lavinia Lau, Director
Commercial of Cathay Pacific Airways. “The CommonPass framework can incorporate specificrequirements of individual countries and governments, and can be used to provide more assurance totravellers as well as the population of destination countries.”“CommonPass also helps travellers stay up-to-date with and adhere to evolving government entry
policies,” Lau added.

For United Airlines, the first airline to trial the platform in the United States, volunteers will use theservice for flights between London Heathrow Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.
“Testing is a key component of a multi-layered approach to safely reopening travel,” said Steve
Morrissey, United’s vice president, regulatory and policy. “Trials with solutions like CommonPass are
critical to demonstrate the potential for testing as an alternative to blanket quarantine measures ortravel restrictions, while we continue to focus on the safety and health of our customers andemployees.”
Volunteers undertaking the trials with Cathay Pacific Airways and United Airlines will adhere to all entry
and testing rules, adding the additional action of uploading information from their testing before
departure into CommonPass.
At London Heathrow, tests from private testing company Prenetics will be administered by the traveland medical services firm Collinson in the dedicated COVID-19 testing facilities set up with their partner
Swissport.
“As we come to grips with living with COVID-19, testing is the safest scientific method to reopencountries and borders. However, as each country looks to find the right solution to protect their citizens,
we know that the ability to demonstrate the validity of testing done upon arrival or before departure iskey to reopening borders,” said David Evans, Joint CEO, Collinson. “The Collinson and Swissport
dedicated COVID-19 testing facility at Heathrow will support Common Pass’ trial by testing United
Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways volunteers.”“For some time now, Heathrow has been calling for the creation of a Common International Standardand cross-border pilots such as these could help governments across the world and the industry tounlock the benefits of testing in aviation,” Heathrow’s Process Improvement Director, Mark Burgess.
“We’re looking forward to reviewing the findings of these trials and using the learnings to support therecovery of an industry that provides so many jobs and economic opportunities globally.”“Partners across the globe are looking for sustainable solutions to keep travel healthy, responsible andsafe,” Dr. Martin S. Cetron, Director, Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, CDC. “CDC is eager tolearn from the CommonPass pilot, as it could be one of the many potential tools that may one day
contribute to a safe, responsible, and healthy global air travel experience.”"I am encouraged by how quickly the global travel industry has coalesced around the CommonPassFramework" said Greg O'Hara, Founder of Certares and Executive Chairman of American Express GlobalBusiness Travel. "CommonPass can give travelers the clarity and confidence they need to start movingagain.”
Following these trials, the CommonPass rollout will expand to additional airlines and routes across Asia,Africa, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East in quick succession.
“The government of Rwanda is working with the Commons Project to implement CommonPass as a tool
to protect our population's health as we reopen our borders,” said Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, the Director
General of Rwanda's BiomedicalCentre. “We can make more informed border entry decisions with theability to trust health information from other countries.”

“Trust through clarity and consistency will be key to restoring confidence to travel,” said Julián Guerrero
Orozco, Colombia’s Vice Minister of Tourism. “Instead of having different approaches nationally, weneed a standard method like the CommonPass Framework.”
About The Commons Project Foundation
The Commons Project Foundation is a non-profit public trust building global digital services andplatforms for the common good. Founded with support from The Rockefeller Foundation and based inSwitzerland, it was established to build and operate the shared platforms and services that neither
governments nor tech companies are well positioned to create. The Commons Project’s public trust
governance structure is designed to ensure that people’s interests are served above all. Learn moreat thecommonsproject.org.
About the World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum
engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regionaland industry agendas. It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in
Geneva, Switzerland. It is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests. The Forum strives
in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding thehighest standards of governance. Moral and intellectual integrity is at the heart of everything it does.
More information
Travelers can find information about CommonPass at https://thecommonsproject.org/commonpass.
For non-media information on CommonPass or The Commons Project, please contact
info@thecommonsproject.org
For CommonPass or The Commons Project media queries, please contact Thomas Crampton,+44-7826995794 or +1-914-202-2762 at press@thecommonsproject.org
For World Economic Forum media queries, please contact Madeleine Hillyer, Tel. +1-646-592-5044,
madeleine.hillyer@weforum.org
For Cathay Pacific media queries, please contact press@cathaypacific.com +852-2747 5393.
For United media queries, please contact United Airlines Worldwide Media Relations, +1-872-825-8640,
media.relations@united.com
For CDC media queries, please contact media@cdc.gov, +1-404-639-3286