The draft law on the vaccination pass provides that, in addition to the police, the managers of places and activities such as cafeterias and restaurateurs will be able, under conditions, to verify their validity.
“It’s a constraint, but we prefer that to closing.” Bosses of bars, cafes and restaurants are resigned to having to soon verify the identity of their customers, under the terms of the bill being adopted in Parliament, to curb the fraudulent use of the health pass, which will become a vaccine pass.
“Having to verify the identity will certainly be very inconvenient, it is not what one expects when entering a hotel or a restaurant. This is an undeniable additional constraint for our professionals, ”says Hervé Becam, vice-president of Umih, the main union in the hotel and restaurant industry. “But if it has to be done and if it is a way to get out of the crisis as quickly as possible and to avoid closing, of course we will do it,” he adds.
If in doubt
The bill adopted at first reading in the Assembly on Thursday provides that, in addition to the police, the managers of places and activities subject to the pass such as cafetiers and restaurateurs will be able, under conditions, to verify its validity. But this control will not be “systematic”, assured the Minister of Health Olivier Véran. It is “when there are serious reasons for believing that the document presented is not authentic or does not relate to the person presenting it” that an identity document may be requested, specifies an amendment. The government refers to a “banal” identity check, similar to that imposed on tobacconists to prevent the sale of tobacco to minors.
And “when you pay by check, you are asked for your identity document”, Prime Minister Jean Castex insisted. “We will comply with it, but we will not be able to demand 100% control, it is impossible,” said Didier Chenet, president of the GNI, an employers’ union which represents independent workers in the hotel and catering industry. “It’s really not our job to be the cops. I find that we are entering a dictatorship, ”says Luc Minaire, owner of the Lyon stopper Le Musée.
” Bad contact “
For Amandio Galhalo, owner of Mercado Negro in Roubaix, “you have to deal with it, you have to get out of it”. “But it’s embarrassing: we question the word of the customer, it immediately creates a bad contact,” he says. If the text is adopted as is, holding a false pass will be punishable by five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros. Presenting one belonging to another or transmitting one for the purpose of fraudulent use will be punished by a fixed fine of 1,000 euros, against 135 euros today. According to the Minister of Health, “5% of hospitalized patients” in France have fake health passes.
Hoteliers, cafetiers and restaurateurs are especially worried about the drop in activity due to health constraints such as reinforced teleworking, reports the employers who urge the government to guarantee that “companies in difficulty will be able to be helped up to their loss of figure. current business ”, specifies Hervé Becam.