The bar association pleads with the authorities to forego penalties when monitoring the tightened lockdown from Tuesday and instead to issue a warning. From the point of view of President Rupert Wolff, the current draft is “made much more precisely and carefully than the previous regulations”. However, Wolff criticized in the APA interview some false statements by the government about the exit restrictions. He calls for clear rules for working parents.
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“I would like politics to communicate more clearly, because only if the population understands all of this will they also accept it,” said Wolff. He criticizes the fact that it was first mentioned on Saturday that leaving the private living area would only be permitted for four reasons. In fact, there are nine exceptions in the regulation.
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And the restriction to only one non-household contact person first suggested by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) is not found in the regulation. Rather, the regulation speaks of the fact that one can meet with “individual important reference persons, with whom contact is usually maintained several times a week”. According to the explanations on the regulation, this can also be several contact persons. “Communication was not clear and comprehensive enough for me,” says Wolff.
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From his point of view, it is also unclear how regular contact should be proven in case of doubt: “Do I have to present a location log of my mobile phone for the last three months?”
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The lawyer now hopes that the authorities will not rely on penalties when monitoring the measures, but on education and warning. In addition, precise instructions from the Interior Ministry to the police are needed in order to avoid misunderstandings about what is allowed and what is forbidden during controls. However, Wolf generally praises the quality of the regulation: “It was made carefully. We tried to consider all areas as possible. There will always be a need for interpretation. “
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Wolff sees ambiguities, among other things, in the rules for picking up food in restaurants. According to the wording of the regulation, you shouldn’t eat a burger picked up in the restaurant within 50 meters of the restaurant. “That I can only bite into it from meter 51 is somehow bizarre.” Wolff also sees an unequal treatment between gastronomy and retail, because pubs are allowed to sell food ordered by phone, but picking up goods from retailers is prohibited.
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From the attorney’s point of view, a clear rule is needed to ensure that parents who opt for distance learning and do not send their children to school are exempted from the obligation to work.
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It remains to be seen which goods will be offered by those shops that are allowed to keep open from Tuesday – such as grocers. Wolff assumes that large grocers will have to restrict their range of products and not be allowed to sell books or toys because bookstores and toy retailers will also be closed. The Viennese lawyer Florian Horn sees a possible problem here. In his view, the restriction to the “typical range of goods” provided for in the regulation could also result in large grocery retailers continuing to offer their extended range. It will depend on how the operators understand the regulation.
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