Verdict on the Corona emergency brake
Restaurant closures were legal
05/10/2022 10:46 am
Closed restaurants and bars when the seven-day incidence is over 100: In the spring of the 2021 pandemic, the federal emergency brake is a nuisance for many catering establishments. However, as the Federal Constitutional Court has now ruled, it was compatible with the Basic Law.
The corona-related closure of catering establishments during the so-called federal emergency brake in spring 2021 was compatible with the Basic Law. The constitutional complaint of a Berlin restaurant owner before the Federal Constitutional Court was unsuccessful. According to the unanimous decision, the temporary closure was constitutionally justified as a measure to combat the pandemic.
During the federal emergency brake period, restaurants and bars, among other things, had to close between April 23 and June 30, 2021 if the seven-day incidence in a city or district was more than 100. Only an out-of-home sale was then possible. Other restrictions also applied during the federal emergency brake, such as visiting contacts in one’s own home and going out at night.
As early as November 2021, the First Senate had decided that the contact and exit restrictions were “compatible with the Basic Law in the extreme danger of the pandemic”. In the decision at that time, however, no decision was made on restaurant closures because the constitutional complaints against them were inadmissible.
Now a chamber consisting of three constitutional judges ruled on a new constitutional complaint and came to the unanimous conclusion that the closures of restaurants had not violated the fundamental right to freedom of occupation. In view of the dynamics of the infection process, there was a particular urgency in April last year to protect life and health and the functionality of the health system, the reasoning went. Therefore, the intervention was justified, which was mitigated by state aid programs for the affected companies.