The RKI had reduced the recovered status from six to three months in mid-January. As a result, many citizens suddenly lost the opportunity to visit restaurants – wrongly, a court has now ruled.
The controversial shortening of the convalescent status by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) from six to three months is also illegal according to Berlin judges.
The Federal Government must decide for itself how long the convalescent status is valid, the Berlin Administrative Court announced on Thursday and referred to the regulations in the Infection Protection Act. In practice, however, only the two applicants can initially refer to the old recovered status of six months, as a spokesman explained. The court cannot generally suspend the regulation. The decision is not yet final. (Ref.: VG 14 L 24/22)
Court: RKI cannot decide on status
In the opinion of the responsible 14th chamber, the decision as to which persons are to be assumed to be immunized cannot be transferred to the RKI as the higher federal authority. This goes beyond the limits of legal authority. For this reason, the court did not have to deal with the question of whether the reduction in time from six to three months was based on sufficient scientific knowledge or was sufficiently justified. An appeal to the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court is possible against the decision in the summary proceedings.
Administrative courts in Ansbach, Bavaria, and Hamburg had previously made similar decisions. In a decision on mandatory vaccinations for staff in clinics and nursing homes, the Federal Constitutional Court recently expressed doubts about leaving such specification to a federal institute.
The federal and state governments have already agreed that the determination of the recovered status should no longer be delegated to the RKI. This is to undo a recent change. This stipulates that the deadline is no longer in a regulation, but that the RKI’s specifications on its website apply directly.
On this basis, the institute shortened the recovered status from six to three months on January 15. Many citizens lost the opportunity to go to restaurants or bars almost overnight. Resentment caused that this change initially went largely unnoticed.
Source: Stern
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