If the justice of a European country were to suspend the health pass because of the illegality of the measure, this would call into question the policy of fighting Covid-19 of many States. This would also give an additional argument to the detractors of the famous QR code. For several weeks, a message shared on Facebook announces that in Belgium, “justice is suspending the Health Pass and fining the Walloon government 5,000 euros”.
Words that have not escaped the opposition, which welcomes such a decision: “Finally good news”, some say. “When is the turn of France? Others ask themselves. For them, such a decision in a neighboring country, while the vaccination pass is under discussion, would call everything into question.
FAKE OFF
The message is based on a seemingly credible news site. In reality, it is from the evening mail site, which is customary for fake news, especially on the current pandemic, as we already explained a year ago.
The procedure in question is as follows: the Belgian association Our right introduced at the end of November an interim action against the Covid Safe Ticket (CST) with several courts, – including that of Namur, mentioned in Facebook publications – and the Constitutional Council.
This association, which has been campaigning for several months against health measures, considers that the CST “unduly infringes the right to cultural and social development, the right to peaceful assembly and the right to respect for private life and protection of personal data ”. The CST, the Belgian equivalent of our health pass, is regulated in particular by a decree adopted by the Walloon government on October 21, 2021 and entered into force in Wallonia on November 1.
The appeal decision known on January 7
Since this is a summary procedure, the aim is to obtain a rapid decision and to have the measure declared as illegal (or not) provisionally.
As the rtbe states, the Walloon region was indeed ordered on November 30 to take the necessary measures “to put an end to this situation of apparent illegality of the use of CST in the Walloon region” within 7 days, under penalty of a “fine of 5,000 euros per day of delay ”.
The next day, the region appealed against the decision of the court of first instance. Appeal that took place this week. “We pleaded yesterday – Tuesday, December 21 – the call. The decision is expected on January 7, ”says 20 minutes the lawyer of Notre bon droit, Audrey Despontin.
A decision that does not invalidate the Belgian health pass
The decision taken at first instance, which applies only to the region of Wallonia, does not make any changes to government policy, since the CST is still in force in the country. Its use has also been extended in Wallonia and Brussels until April 15, 2021.
The public life site, produced by the Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information, explains that “the summary judge is the administrative judge of the emergency. It does not judge the principal but makes it possible to obtain provisional and rapid measures, intended to safeguard the rights and freedoms of the citizens. »It is specified that he cannot in any case pronounce the annulment of a decision (in this case the implementation of the pass).
If the Liège Court of Appeal decides, at the beginning of January, in favor of Notre bon droit, the region will have to pay the penalty payment, namely 5,000 euros per day, to the association. And according to Belgian law, Decree which regulates the CST could only be overturned by the Constitutional Court itself.