The news relieved restaurateurs, in the gloomy context of the start of the school year.
The bill replacing the health pass with a vaccination pass, voted definitively by the National Assembly this weekend, no longer provides for the obligation to check an identity document in addition to the vaccination pass.
Indeed, this provision was removed from the text by the Senate, then reinstated in a very softened version by the National Assembly.
From now on, restaurateurs and café owners will be able to check an identity document, but only “
when there are serious reasons to believe that the document presented is not linked to the person who presents it
”.
Read alsoVaccination pass: can restaurateurs really check the identity of their customers?
Faculty, but not obligation. "
We will check, for example, if there is an obvious difference between the age of the person indicated by his health pass and the age he seems to be
", explains Hervé Dijols, president of the SNRTC, employers' union. This type of control should, according to representatives of the sector, remain quite marginal. “
The identity check will not be applied because, firstly, it is not compulsory, and secondly, we are not trained to judge the validity of this pass
”, thus swept Jean Terlon, vice-president of the UMIH-restoration, this Monday on franceinfo.
The proposal even makes Samuel Yim, federal secretary of the services branch of the CFDT, smile.
“
Already, in one out of two restaurants where I am currently going, the health pass is not checked.
In bars, it's the same thing
, ”he argues.
New aid envisaged
This relative strengthening of control measures is nevertheless a lifeline for a sector, which fears new closures more than anything else. The end of 2021 has indeed experienced the hotel-café-restaurant (HCR) sector since the wave of the Omicron variant has caused a series of cancellations of meals and end-of-year events. The beginning of the year 2022 is hardly more cheerful: the activity is once again pulled down by the obligation of teleworking which is imposed on some of the employees.
The professionals have therefore decided to back down.
“
The vaccination pass is all we have to avoid closure or new restrictions
”, argues Didier Chenet, president of the GNI, after a meeting with Bercy.
The Ministry of the Economy put on the table on Monday a possible extension of the financial aid already offered to the profession to deal with fluctuations in activity.
Read alsoCovid-19: Bercy refused additional aid to bars and restaurants
Currently, establishments subject to health restrictions can indeed benefit from partial unemployment coverage without remaining charges if they lose more than 65% of their turnover, and from coverage of fixed costs if their turnover has decreased by 50%.
The new expanded device, the details of which are not known for the time being, must still be validated by Matignon and should be announced this week.
