The Second Section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) has suspended the agreement of the Canarian Government of September 16 by which the extension of the closing hours of nightlife establishments was authorized, linking it to the "voluntary" requirement of a Covid certificate by the premises.
The order argues that the requirement of this certificate affects fundamental rights and considers that prior judicial authorization should have been requested. In fact, the regional government did unsuccessfully request this authorization when it tried to impose this rule in a general way, to regulate access to certain establishments, and when it saw it rejected by the TSJC, it opted for this other route that has now been suspended.
The new resolution gives the Government of the Canary Islands three working days to present allegations, although it already anticipates that there are "very strong indications that a decision subject by law to judicial authorization as a prior condition of effectiveness would have been adopted without completing such procedure."
The government agreement of the Canarian Executive that has been suspended came into force on September 18 and stated that it would be in force until 00.00 on October 31.
In the same, it was stated that discotheques, bars and karaokes that wanted to take advantage of this voluntary extension should prove that their workers and customers had the vaccination certificate against Covid-19 with more than 14 days in advance, have passed the disease or have a diagnostic test of active infection with a negative result, with a maximum advance of 48 hours and without self-diagnosis tests being valid.
Thus, nightlife businesses that wished to do so could close at 04.00 hours in levels 1 and 2, while those that were at level 3 the closing time was set at 03.00 hours and the islands at level 4 maintained the closure at 01.00 hours.
However, with the suspension of this extension of the schedule by the TSJC, the immediately previous regulations are again in force, as stated in the order, in which the night establishments in territories at level 1 may close at 03.00 hours and at 02.00 hours those that are at level 2; while in the islands at level 3 and 4 the closure is located at 01.00 hours.
