When the Public Health Agency’s restrictions on restaurant visits have been eased pub life has taken off again. Reports of well-attended bars and eateries have been recurring. At the same time, experts have warned that the coronavirus is at risk of spreading.
To check that the rules are followed The environmental administration in the city of Stockholm has around 15 inspectors which will carry out inspections at the almost 6,000 restaurants that exist. In the autumn, DN was able to report that every third restaurant in Stockholm violates the congestion rules.
In July has about 50 percent of the inspections involved a remark, says Monika Gerdhem, head of department at the environmental administration in the city of Stockholm.
– Pub owners often think that it is the guests’ behavior that causes the rules to be broken. And I’m not buying it. If you furnish too cramped, it is the restaurant’s responsibility, she says.
According to figures from the environmental administration as SVT has reported on The environmental administration has now in July applied for 68 fines to be imposed for restaurants that did not follow the rules of at least one meter distance between the guests belonging to different companies. The administrative court is the body that then imposes a fine.
In the statistics as DN has read that it appears that several well-known restaurants around Stureplan and Strandvägen top the list of restaurants that have received the most applications for fines due to congestion. During the year, the Environmental Administration applied for a fine of between SEK 10,000 and SEK 25,000 on at least three different occasions to 19 different restaurants. The seven restaurants that top the list are all around Stureplan or in the immediate area.
– We have a pretty good sense of where it is worst congestion, so we try to focus the controls there, says Monika Gerdhem.
The environmental administration can use a fine to get the restaurants to follow the rules, but otherwise there is in practice no other way to get the restaurants to better follow the rules, Monika Gerdhem continues.
– The only thing left is to close. And we will have a lot on our feet then. Closing a business is a very intrusive measure and we must always work according to the principle of proportionality, she says.
What is required then to close a restaurant?
– For example, we closed some nightclubs last autumn. It was packed with people, they stood up and broke all the rules that could be broken. It was incredibly crowded. If restaurants on Stureplan are too densely furnished… we must remember that this is an assessment issue. It must be legally certain, and we must follow the principle of proportionality.
In that case, can it not be rational for the restaurants to furnish tightly and then take the slap with a fine of SEK 25,000 a week?
– You should really ask them that. Maybe it can be. I have no idea. Of course, they could have hypothetically reasoned in that way. But we have no other tools available from the environmental administration, says Monika Gerdhem.
When DN tries to contact the restaurants that top the list of most fines imposed, however, the response is completely absent.
The restaurant industry has financially has been hit hard during the pandemic by people visiting pubs and restaurants to a lesser extent for various reasons. And when the environmental administration’s staff now carry out their inspections, the reactions are often critical, says Monika Gerdhem.
– They think they are vulnerable. We have had a lot of dialogue with the industry since this started. They think they have to bear the burden, and I understand that they have a tough situation.
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