A child who hides his face with his hands. (illustration) - Pixabay

  • "Touching your face is now punished with a criminal fine of 38 euros! "Says a message posted on social networks.
  • This mentions a decree adopted on May 11 to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic, which would allow such a sanction. 
  • 20 Minutes reviews the legality of such a measure and the risks actually incurred in the event of non-compliance with this barrier gesture. 

It is one of the barrier gestures recommended by the government since the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic: avoid touching your face, in order to protect yourself from possible contamination by your nose, eyes or mouth.

But non-compliance with this health advice would now be liable to a fine, according to an assertion relayed on social networks. "Touching your face is now punished with a criminal fine of 38 euros! Article 1 Decree No. 2020-545 of 11 May 2020 prescribing the general measures necessary to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic in the context of the state of health emergency ”, for example maintains a Facebook post dated 13 may.

This publication actually repeats the content of a tweet published two days earlier by lawyer Eric Rocheblave, who then cited various extracts from the relevant decree to demonstrate that such a sanction would be legally possible in the event of non-compliance with the various instructions. listed in this text. What cause indignant reactions, and sometimes incredulous, on the part of several Internet users.

🔴 Touching your face is now punishable by a € 38 criminal fine! 🤣👏

Article 1 Decree n ° 2020-545 of 11 May 2020 prescribing the general measures necessary to deal with the epidemic of covid-19 in the context of the state of health emergency pic.twitter.com/3fPQkDGPnT

- Eric ROCHEBLAVE (@EricROCHEBLAVE) May 11, 2020

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The decree in question, which can be consulted online, clearly states in its first article that "the hygiene measures defined in appendix I to this decree and social distancing, including the physical distancing of at least one meter between two people, called "barriers", defined at the national level, must be observed everywhere and in all circumstances "in order to" slow the spread of the virus ".

The annex in question lists many different barrier gestures: “Wash your hands regularly with soap and water […]; systematically cover your nose and mouth by coughing or sneezing into your elbow; blow your nose in a disposable handkerchief for immediate disposal in a trash can; avoid touching your face, especially your nose, mouth and eyes. "And to specify that" the masks must be worn systematically by all since the rules of physical distance cannot be guaranteed. "

For Nicolas Hervieu, professor of public law at Sciences Po, who pointed out on May 11 on his Twitter account the “criminal risk” engendered by this decree, this text indirectly gives the possibility of a fine in the event of non-compliance with certain of these gestures. "The government undoubtedly wanted to show pedagogy and give more political weight to these recommendations by inserting them in the decree," he said at 20 Minutes . They are of course welcome from a health point of view, but they have little to do in a legal text. I think that it was not anticipated that inserting them in the decree with very imperative wording could give rise to a penal sanction. "

"Because a fine of 38 euros is quite possible, by virtue not of this decree, but of article R610-5 of the penal code", continues Nicolas Hervieu. This article states that "violation of the prohibitions or failure to comply with the obligations decreed by police decrees and orders are punishable by the fine provided for first class tickets", that is to say a maximum amount of 38 euros, according to its article 131-13.

A child who hides his face with his hands. (illustration) - Pixabay

"Not everything is formulated in an imperative tone in the decree"

However, if Nicolas Hervieu initially cited touching his face as liable to this fine, he is nuancing today: "In reality, everything is not formulated in an imperative tone in the decree. For me, touching your face will not be penalized, it is anecdote because the formulation "avoid touching your face" is a recommendation. "

“Mixing legitimate health recommendations and legal rules, we end up above all with a risk of arbitrariness. There will be no national order to verbalize people if they throw their handkerchief out of a trash can or do not respect the distance of one meter, but at the local level some mayors could ask the police officers to verbalize in these cases ”, continues the lawyer.

And to conclude: "The problem is not so much whether it will stand up legally but rather whether it is consistent with equal sentences. There were over a million reports during confinement, and only a tiny handful of tickets and offenses brought before a judge. In this lot, there is undoubtedly a substantial part which is illegal and could have been canceled by a judge but was not. To create imprecise rules is to lead to arbitrariness and to fines which, in practice, will not be punished for tens of thousands of people. "

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