The Government of the Canary Islands, together with its legal services and the technical staff of the Health area, "will thoroughly analyze and present allegations" to the order of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) that, as a precautionary measure, annuls the governmental decision to require a Covid certificate to access the interior of establishments such as bars, restaurants and gyms.
This was announced by the Government spokesperson, Julio Pérez, during the press conference after the Governing Council, in which he recalled that they have three working days to present these allegations. According to Pérez, this measure was adopted not only following the criteria of the legal services of the Community and the technicians of the Ministry of Health, but in consensus and at the proposal of various business associations of restaurants and hotels, who proposed that all customers inside carry said certificate in exchange for raising the capacity in islands in levels 3 and 4.
The Minister of Justice, Public Administration and Security also indicated that the Government had not officially received the TSJC resolution and that, nevertheless, it has a "very precautionary" nature, so now the period is opened to attend to the allegations of the Executive, which was not heard before adopting this decision.
Pérez pointed out that the latest orders rejecting measures of the Government of the Canary Islands deserve a detailed reading. "We have found it difficult to understand what we are being told about the closure between 00:00 hours and 6:00. It says that it is not possible to apply it at level 4, but it leads to think that in the rest of the levels it would be maintained and it does not seem to have coherence, it must be that we are reading it wrong", he stated. "It is deduced that this is due to the decision of the Supreme Court on the curfew, but this must be studied well because the curfew refers to the mobility of people and the commercial closure is on activities at those hours, which are closed except for essential services, such as gas stations," he added.
The spokesperson also referred to the capacity and the statement that requiring the COVID certificate may violate the privacy of people by having to report on their health status and turns owners into health guards. In his opinion, this also clashes because, "for a year now, a certificate or negative test has been required to enter accommodations on the Islands, apart from the fact that there are controls in ports and airports and in many public and private centers data is requested or temperature measurements are taken."
Pérez also defended that, despite the latest orders, the majority of decisions of the Government of the Canary Islands on the pandemic in order to combine health with economic activity and legality have been ratified by the courts. "We will make these allegations to know how far the mandate of the court goes, but I insist that all the measures are decided based on the recommendations and proposals of the technical health and legal services, which have a team of 25 lawyers." According to he remarked, "the Government has tried to combine the defense of health so that the impact of the pandemic is as small as possible, that this is compatible with developing the greatest feasible economic activity and with respect for the laws and, in particular, for fundamental rights."
"We understand that our decisions are based on law"
The spokesperson also stressed that although the appeal has been filed by two business associations of Tenerife, the use of the Covid certificate was agreed with other entities in this sector of the Islands and at their proposal. "In the allegations, we are going to defend that the decision of last week, in our opinion, is justified and based on law. It seems to us that the right to privacy cannot be understood as injured in this case, apart from the fact that going to a bar, restaurant or gym is a voluntary activity. That this certificate is required to use a gym or enter a restaurant has not only occurred to the Canary Islands. It is spreading throughout the world and the US president himself, Joe Biden, will announce this Friday that public officials must provide a Covid certificate."
According to he indicated, that document has the double advantage that it allows to expand the interior capacity and provides more security to the users of those businesses. He also recalled that in the Islands, one million residents have already downloaded this certificate from the website of the Ministry of Health, "so it does not seem to be a requirement that is difficult to obtain." The certificate is not only achieved with the complete vaccination schedule, but if you have passed the Covid-19 or carry a negative test in the last 72 hours.
