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Date Published: 16/12/2021

ARCHIVED - High Court rejects Covid passport rules in Andalusia, while government wants masks to be obligatory again

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

There is a back and forth between the legal and jurisdictional bodies to stem rising infections in Spain

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - High Court rejects Covid passport rules in Andalusia, while government wants masks to be obligatory again

Andalucía’s High Court of Justice has sent the regional government back to the drawing board with its proposal to implement the Covid certificate in bars and restaurants because it discriminates against employees and would effectively force them to get vaccinated, which is illegal.

While the Andalusian government will be forced to capitulate on that point, it has requested that legal organs in Spain make wearing a face mask outdoors obligatory again, like it was in the bad old days of the pandemic.

Andalucía made to rethink its Covid pass policy

The High Court of Justice of Andalucía (TSJA) has rejected the proposed enforcement of the Covid passport that the Andalusian Government wanted to implement to access hospitality establishments like hotels, restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

The Court considers that the measure meets the requirements of “necessity and suitability”, but does not meet the requirement of proportionality since it would have to be applied, according to the way the order is currently drafted, to “any person” accessing the interior of these establishments, which would include the people who work there.

While the Court does agree that “there is no doubt” about the “proportionality” of the Covid certificate for the clients who want to access these establishments, because going there is “absolutely voluntary and for the purpose of receiving a non-essential service”.

The sticking point comes because, in the current wording, the Covid pass “is required for any person seeking access to the interior of these establishments, regardless of the purpose for which such access is sought”. Therefore, “it will apply to all workers who, even on an occasional basis, have to access the establishments due to… their work occupation”.

This is considered disproportionally harsh because, in order to carry out their work, workers would be obliged to be vaccinated, even though it is not compulsory in Spain, or would have to provide a negative test every 48 or 72 hours as an essential prerequisite for carrying out their work, which would be ruinously expensive for them.

The Court is giving the Junta de Andalucía the opportunity to request a new judicial ratification with a reworded order to apply the Covid certificate to customers of hospitality establishments but not to workers.

Andalucía lobbies government to make facemasks compulsory outdoors again

At the same time, the Andalusian government is requesting that Spain’s national government make the use of masks outdoors mandatory once again, regardless of whether people can keep the 1.5m distance rule currently in force to prevent infection.

This was announced by Andalucía’s Minister of Health and Families, Jesús Aguirre, who warned of the difficulty of maintaining the required social distance in busy places this Christmas.

Aguirre explained that Andalucía has proposed in the Interterritorial Health Council “a modification of the law to make it compulsory to wear a mask outdoors”.

“It is an ongoing struggle that this Regional Ministry is fighting for the Ministry to take note because it is very difficult at Christmas time to maintain the one and a half metre distance that the Ministry itself advocates,” he stressed.

Images: Archive

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