The fate of the vaccine pass will be determined in the next few days

It is therefore before the Constitutional Council that the next stage of the bill establishing a vaccination pass in France will be played out. On the evening of January 16, the deputy of La France Insoumise Ugo Bernalicis announced on Twitter that the institution responsible for verifying the compliance of the texts of the Constitution has been seized by sixty deputies.

Two specific points motivated the opposition to seize the Constitutional Council: Articles 1 and 2 of the text, the full name of which is “bill strengthening the tools for managing the health crisis and modifying the public health code”. The first article concerns the mutation of the health pass into a vaccination pass, while the second authorizes the transmission of data to the prefectures.

This second provision organizes the transmission to specially authorized agents of the prefectural services “Information from the Si-Dep database, which brings together data from medical biology laboratories in the event of coronavirus screening. For the opposition, the editorial guarantees of the text appear insufficient to effectively limit access to the data.

An opinion expected within a week

The case, referenced on the website of the Constitutional Council with the code 2022-835 DC, should probably be studied quickly. The government wishing to apply the vaccination pass as quickly as possible on the territory, it should logically request the emergency regime, which gives the Council a maximum of eight days to decide.

The referral having taken place on January 17, the Council’s opinion will be known no later than the week of the 24th. Several outcomes are possible: total or partial validation, or total or partial censorship of the text. Certain provisions may be subject to a reservation of interpretation, ie they are deemed to be in conformity if they are applied as indicated by the Council.

Ugo Bernalicis considers that through this referral, several issues will be addressed:

• first, identity verification, which is a disguised check, but which the government presents as a simple “documentary match”;
• the use of the vaccination pass for minors (from 16 years old);
• the use of the vaccination pass in interregional transport (trains and coaches);
• the state of health emergency in the overseas territories;
• the possibility of requesting a health pass at the entrance to political meetings, while the campaign for the presidential election is gaining momentum.

The referral to the Constitutional Council brought together all the members of La France Insoumise, but also the Communists, the Libertés et Territoires group, as well as non-registered elected officials and members of the Socialist Party.

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