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Covid-19: extending the health pass, a tricky "track" to handle

2021-07-12T11:52:23.683Z


"A major incentive for vaccination", the health pass should make it possible to fight against the epidemic. Its extension is one of the “tracks” on the table this Monday.


It is one of the weapons against the epidemic.

Checked at the entrance to nightclubs since Friday, the health pass aims to keep an eye on the epidemic, by restricting access to certain places to only individuals vaccinated or presenting the result of a negative screening test.

While the Delta variant is shaking the health improvement observed for several weeks in France, several voices are pleading for an extension of this device.

Read also: Covid-19 and travel: Delta variant, health pass, vaccine, restrictions ... Where can the French go this summer?

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The principle is simple: the health pass is a "

major incentive lever for vaccination

", recognized the Ministry of Health in mid-May.

It's a carrot and a stick at the same time: if they want to access certain places like nightclubs, individuals must either be vaccinated or multiply antigenic tests or unpleasant RT-PCR.

Not to mention that the latter could become chargeable in the coming weeks ... This double movement - extension of the health pass and de-reimbursement of tests made "

for personal convenience

" - could revitalize a coughing vaccination campaign.

Some economic players see this development happening quickly. "

In public places, it could be places of entertainment, administrations, shopping malls, you will see, most certainly, that the sanitary pass, little by little, will be implemented

", noted this Monday morning the boss of CPME, François Asselin. "

In public places, we will eventually get there, I am deeply convinced,

" he said. “

We want to avoid a new closure of shopping centers at all costs. If it is necessary to impose the presentation of the health pass at the entrance of shopping centers, it will be done,

”recently underlined Gontran Thüring, head of the National Council of Shopping Centers (CNCC).

For these actors, the extension of the pass is better than an uncontrolled resumption of the epidemic, followed by restrictive measures with devastating effects on activity and consumption.

When questioned, the Elysee Palace confirmed this morning that an extension was one of the “

avenues under study

”.

It was therefore on the table, during the defense council this morning, a few hours before the President of the Republic spoke.

Legal difficulties

In fact, increasing the scope of the pass is far from impossible. The thing has already taken place on Friday: the sanitary pass now applies to drinking establishments and restaurants, "

for the dance activities that they are legally authorized to offer, when they welcome at least 50 customers

". A measure taken to put an end to the distortions of competition with nightclubs.

But beware, because the extension is also closely monitored by the authorities. In May, the National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (Cnil) noted that “

the government indicated that it would limit the use of the health pass to only the most risky events [...], by excluding places which relate to the daily activities of the population (restaurants, workplaces, shops, etc.) and those linked to certain usual manifestations of fundamental freedoms

”, such as the freedom of political assembly or of religion.

These limits make it possible to guarantee minimum consequences on "

the rights and freedoms of persons

", judged the institution: they partly justify the validation of the device. The CNIL also warned about "

the risk of creating a harmful phenomenon of addiction which could lead to justifying, for example, that access to a cinema be conditioned on proof that the person is not the carrier of certain pathologies, other than COVID

”.

The Council of State also returned to this subject in a recent opinion.

The institution was approached by the association La Quadrature du net, which accused the sanitary pass of infringing on the freedom of movement of individuals.

But the summary judge considered that "

its use was restricted to travel with foreign countries, Corsica and overseas, on the one hand, and access to places of leisure, on the other hand , regardless of daily activities or the exercise of the freedoms of worship, assembly or demonstration

”.

Under these conditions, it is "

not required for daily activities

" and its consequences for freedoms remain limited.

The essential proportionality of the measure

The challenge is then to determine to what extent the pass can be extended. Should it apply to cinemas, restaurants for their classic activity, bars also, administrations, shops? Or does it infringe on fundamental freedoms, by restricting “

everyday activities

”? "

The question is whether the infringement of freedoms is proportional

", explains Louis Le Foyer de Costil. This aspect is central for the judge, underlines the lawyer at the Paris bar. A health pass extended to the workplace is for example more harmful, since professional activity is essential to have income. Certain essential freedoms, such as that of practicing one's worship, are also scrutinized with attention.

Either the government goes as far as possible, by respecting the instructions of the Council of State, or it goes beyond and it takes a risk. He will then have to justify that the old advice of the council has lapsed, because the worsening of the health situation justifies an aggravation

of the restrictive

measures

, specifies the lawyer. As the situation evolves, the framework can follow. And yesterday's promises, too: at the end of April, Emmanuel Macron considered that the pass "

could not be compulsory to access places of everyday life, such as restaurants, theaters and cinemas

". Since then, the Delta variant has been there.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-07-12

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