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Protest against the lockdown in a shop in North Rhine-Westphalia
Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd / dpa
A group of retailers and restaurateurs wants to sue the planned change to the Infection Protection Act and the introduction of a nationwide Corona emergency brake.
"The government is forcing us to take further legal steps because we are simply at the end," said Alexander von Preen, CEO of the sports trade association Intersport, the "Handelsblatt".
"We are now at the point where we are considering having the legal regulations examined by the Federal Constitutional Court." The aim is to reverse the lockdown for trade or to compensate for the losses suffered.
The federal government wants to use the emergency brake with higher corona numbers after several federal states resisted stricter measures to contain the pandemic, although the number of infections is rising sharply again.
The targeted tightening for the retail trade is not proportionate, said managing director Stefan Genth from the industry association HDE in the criticism of the group of companies.
The planned measures would only affect individual sectors of the German economy regardless of the actual risk of infection and therefore violate the principle of equal treatment.
The HDE will therefore pursue a constitutional complaint with its companies, he emphasized.
According to the newspaper, not only Intersport with its 1500 affiliated sports shops, but also fashion retailers such as Engelhorn, L + T, Schuster and Tom Tailor, the bicycle dealer Rose Bikes, and restaurateurs such as L'Osteria are involved in the initiative.
The main criticism of the companies is the unequal treatment of different industries in the law, which in their opinion is objectively not justified.
Bookstores or garden centers, for example, are allowed to open wider if the incidence is higher, but sports shops or bicycle dealers are not.
The companies also have no understanding of the fact that grocery stores are allowed to open, even if 40 percent of their range consists of non-food items such as clothing or housewares.
The Bundestag should adopt the planned changes to the Infection Protection Act on Wednesday next week.
Politicians must finally get away from the symbolic politics of business closings, criticized HDE lobbyist Genth.
It is about targeted measures that start where the risk of infection has been shown to be increased.
So it is not understandable why, with an incidence of more than 100, Click & Collect or shopping by appointment should be prohibited in the future.
Due to a lack of opening prospects, the existential fear of many retailers is currently increasing.
kig / Reuters