Containment is decreed in 16 departments, with the idea of "braking without locking up". During this new phase of restrictions, what are the essential businesses that can remain open?
Friday March 19, 2021, at midnight, begins for 16 French departments a third confinement for four weeks. New restrictions apply, including the closure of so-called "non-essential" businesses. Government spokesman Gabriel Attal told RTL his "Trust all professionals to adapt, to make health protocols. They have made a lot of efforts since the start of this crisis. When you have to limit interactions in closed places, you have to close a certain number of places. It is difficult for the people concerned. They will obviously be compensated with the solidarity fund ".
So what are the "essential" businesses? Those who appeared in the list published in the Official Journal on October 29, 2020, for the second confinement. There are obviously food stores and selling basic necessities. Also in this list, businesses selling goods essential to the pursuit of certain professional activities. Small newcomers to this list: hairdressing salons, subject to a reinforced sanitary protocol, but also booksellers and record stores. This in order to counter the controversy of the confinements of 2020, where supermarkets had to end up closing their culture departments due to competition from closed booksellers and record stores, deemed unfair.
List of shops open during the containment of March 2021
Here is the list of businesses authorized for this territorial confinement from March to April 2021. The list should be specified exhaustively in a decree in the Official Journal on this day of Friday, March 19, 2021. For all others, online ordering and withdrawal in store (click-and-collect) is still possible.
- Hairdressing salons
- Maintenance, repair and technical inspection of motor vehicles, vehicles, agricultural machinery and equipment
- Trade in automotive equipment
- Trade and repair of motorcycles and cycles
- Supplies needed for farms
- Retail sale of frozen products
- General food store
- Mini-markets
- Supermarkets
- Multi-store stores
- Bookstores
- Record stores
- Hypermarkets
- Retail sale of fruit and vegetables in specialized stores
- Retail sale of meat and meat products in specialized stores
- Retail sale of fish, crustaceans and molluscs in specialized stores
- Retail sale of bread, pastry and confectionery in specialized stores
- Retail sale of beverages in specialized stores
- Other food retailing in specialized stores
- Food distributions provided by charities
- Retail sale of fuels in specialized stores
- Retail sale of information and communication equipment in specialized stores
- Retail sale of computers, peripheral units and software in specialized stores
- Retail sale of telecommunications equipment in specialized stores
- Retail sale of construction materials, hardware, paints and glass in specialized stores
- Retail sale of textiles in specialized stores
- Retail sale of newspapers and stationery in specialized stores
- Retail sale of pharmaceutical products in specialized stores
- Retail sale of medical and orthopedic articles in specialized stores
- Optical retail
- Retail sale of pet food and supplies
- Food retail trade on stalls subject, when they are installed on a market, to the provisions of III of Article 7
- Retail sale of tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, vaping equipment and devices in specialized stores
- Sale by vending machines and other retail businesses outside of stores, stalls or markets n. vs. at
- Hotels and similar accommodation excluding holiday villages, family homes and collective inns
- Rental and leasing of motor vehicles
- Activities of labor placement agencies
- Repair of computers and personal and household goods, communication equipment, and peripheral and communication equipment
- Laundry-dyer
- Funeral services
- Financial and insurance activities
- Wholesale trade providing the goods and services necessary for the activities mentioned in this annex.