According to the trade association, the companies argue with violations of the fundamental rights to property and freedom of employment as well as violations of the principle of equality and the principle of legality. They defend themselves against the official closure of the non-essential trade and challenge this before the VfGH.
The trade has always supported security and hygiene measures against Corona, the trade association said in a message on Tuesday afternoon. A “reduction in contact” in retail does not, however, help to relieve the strain on hospital and intensive care capacities. “In our opinion, the closure of the trade is unconstitutional because the measure is not suitable to justify the encroachment on constitutionally guaranteed rights,” said association manager Rainer Will on behalf of the 62 trading companies that submitted the VfGH application. The association welcomes the appeal to the Constitutional Court to clarify the constitutional conformity of the current measures.
“Retail is not a corona hotspot”
The closure of the trade is too serious, since it is actually about interventions “which have been shown to have an effect on the infection process”. And, according to Will: “In any case, the closure of shops is not one of them, because retail was and is not a corona hotspot, as current studies show”, reference is made to studies by the AGES, The Lancet and LUCA app.
The aim of the COVID-19 Measures Act is to curb the personal contacts of people by prohibiting entry in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and the predicted overload of intensive care. But contact is not always contact: the short contacts with an FFP2 mask and, since this November 8th, exclusively between vaccinated and convalescent ones in the commercial premises, would bring no or a negligible risk of infection.
Appeal to the federal government
“Due to the observed minimum distance, ventilation systems, short periods of stay, short contact times with employees, wearing the FFP2 mask and, most recently, the 2G rule, the retail establishments are downright ‘safe spots’ where the risk of infection is as low as almost nowhere otherwise, “argues Will. The 62 trading companies include various industries (including fashion, shoe, sporting goods, perfume, jewelry and electronics retailers).
Basically, the trade association appealed to the federal government to “end the lockdown for all trading companies nationwide at the end of December 11th, 2021, to provide compensation that compensates for the damage actually incurred and not to order new lockdowns for the trade as long as it is not scientifically proven that the trade has a significant influence on the infection rate “.
Source: Nachrichten
