Bavarian court overturns 2G rule in retail

Created: 2022-01-19Updated: 2022-01-19, 4:41 p.m

A sign with the inscription "No 2G/3G proof is required for access" hangs in the shop window of a Munich shop.

© Sven Hoppe/dpa

In December, a court in Lower Saxony overturned the 2G rule in retail.

Now an urgent application against the corresponding rule in Bavaria has also been successful.

Munich – The Bavarian Administrative Court has temporarily suspended the 2G rule in retail in the Free State, according to which only those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered have access to the shops.

The court thus granted an urgent application against this corona measure on Wednesday.

The plaintiff was the owner of a lamp shop.

For Lower Saxony, too, the local higher administrative court in Lüneburg surprisingly overturned the 2G rule for retail in mid-December.

"We are completely suspending 2G in retail in Bavaria and thus ensuring that the VGH decision is implemented quickly and practicably," said Head of the State Chancellery Florian Herrmann (CSU) immediately after the decision became known.

With the access restriction to those who have recovered and those who have been vaccinated (2G) in retail, Bavaria has followed a decision by the Conference of Prime Ministers, “but because of the difficulties that have arisen, the regulation as in the supermarkets is now the simpler alternative”.

Herrmann also emphasized: "The FFP2 mask requirement in retail continues to apply and offers protection."

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According to the current Bavarian regulation on infection protection, only vaccinated and recovered people are allowed to enter shops.

Shops to cover daily needs are excluded.

The applicant saw this as a violation of her professional freedom and the principle of equal treatment.

The Administrative Court provisionally agreed. A 2G access restriction should in principle have a sufficient legal basis, it said. However, the Infection Protection Act stipulates that the scope of exceptions must result from the regulation itself with sufficient clarity and must not be shifted to the level of norm enforcement and its judicial control.

However, the criterion of "daily needs" is specified in the Infection Protection Measures Ordinance by a - expressly non-exhaustive - list of examples, explained the Administrative Court.

This means that the current 2G rule does not meet the requirements.

Even in the case of so-called mixed assortments, it cannot be inferred from the regulation with sufficient certainty which business is covered by the access restriction and which is not.

There is no appeal against Wednesday's decision.

dpa