The Parliament definitively adopted on Saturday evening the text of extension of the state of health emergency until July 10 in France, facing the epidemic of the coronavirus, with a final vote of the National Assembly. Emmanuel Macron and the President of the Senate Gérard Larcher have announced that they will refer the matter to the Constitutional Council. But what does he actually plan? Here are its main lines.
State of emergency extended until July 10
The state of health emergency which entered into force on March 24 for two months, giving the government exceptional means to fight the epidemic, is extended until July 10 inclusive. A possible further extension must again pass through Parliament.
CORONAVIRUS ESSENTIALS
> Deconfinement: what you need to know about returning to work after May 11
> Partial unemployment: the parents' situation clarified
> What will shopping be like after May 11?
> The French will have to go on vacation near their home
> Why going to the hairdresser will cost more after confinement
Supervised criminal responsibility
The compromise finalized in joint joint committee on Saturday specifies the conditions under which the criminal liability of mayors and employers may be engaged during the state of health emergency. Account must be taken not only of "the skills, power and means" available to the perpetrator, a public or private actor, but also to "the nature of its missions or functions".
>> READ ALSO - Criminal liability facing the coronavirus: Medef requests the "shelter" of business leaders
This provision aims in particular to protect the mayors "charged with the implementation of decisions which are imposed to them" by the government, according to the explanatory memorandum to the compromise proposed by the Senate rapporteur Philippe Bas, of the group Les Républicains.
Tracing the sick
The text allows the creation by decree in Council of State of an information system, in connection with the Health Insurance, "intended to identify infected persons" and "to collect information" on the persons having been in contact with them, in order to break the chain of contamination.
Unrelated to the controversial StopCovid application, which is not ready, this system allows the processing and sharing of personal health data, including without the consent of the interested party.
>> READ ALSO - StopCovid application: without Apple or Google, France faces a technological challenge
"Brigades", in particular agents of the social security system, will be responsible for escalating the list of contact cases.
The parliamentarians created a supervisory body and provided that the exemption from medical confidentiality be limited to data concerning infection with the virus. They limited the duration of their backup to three months.
Quarantine and isolation
Preventive quarantine measures and placement in solitary confinement for the sick are planned for people who, "having stayed during the previous month in an area of circulation of the infection", arrive in France , in Corsica and in the overseas territories.
These measures, the initial duration of which cannot exceed 14 days, can be appealed to the judge of liberties and detention.
The Élysée has excluded the application of these provisions to travelers from the European Union, the Schengen Area or the United Kingdom, regardless of their nationality.
Parliamentarians have explicitly provided that spouses and children victims of violence within the family cannot be placed in quarantine or in isolation in the same home as the perpetrator.
New Powers for the Prime Minister
The text redefines certain measures that the Prime Minister can take by decree. It can "regulate or prohibit the movement of people and vehicles and regulate access to means of transport and the conditions of their use" but also "order the temporary closure and regulate the opening" of establishments open to the public as well as meeting places. The Prime Minister also has the right to order the requisition of any person and any goods and services necessary for the fight against the health catastrophe ".
Offenses verbalized by SNCF and RATP agents
The text extends to sworn agents of the SNCF and the RATP the power to verbalize breaches of the measures of the state of emergency, such as the obligation to wear a mask in public transport. Furthermore, pre-trial detention can no longer be extended without trial.