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On 27 March 2021 the Hungarian Government issued Government Decree No. 143/2021 (III.27.) on the extension of protective measures due to the Covid-19 pandemic, effective from 28 March 2021 and Government Decree No. 144/2021 (III.27.) on the first stage in the phasing out of protection measures (“Government Decree”).
I. Extension of protective measures
The Hungarian Government will maintain the current protective measures until 8 April 2021. The rules on education in Government Decree No. 104/2021 (III.5.) on the tightening of protective measures shall be applied until 19 April 2021 (See our earlier Newsletter in this regard).
II. Entry into force of the phasing-out provisions of the government decree
The decree on the phasing out of the protective measures will enter into force following the date of administration of the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, to 2.5 million people. The date shall be published in the Hungarian Gazette.
III. Phasing-out provisions of the government decree
1. The curfew period
The current curfew period (8 p.m. to 5 a.m.) will be reduced. As a main rule, everyone shall stay at their permanent address, residence or accommodation between 10PM and 5AM with the following exceptions.
Being in public areas is allowed provided that it is:
- or avoiding damage to health, danger to life or serious injury and for life protection purposes;
- or working purposes;
- for transportation to the place of work, or from the place of work to the permanent address, residence or accommodation;
- for competitive sport purposes, meaning the athlete’s participation in trainings and sport events, the transportation to the place of training and sport event, and from the place of training and sport event to the permanent address, residence or accommodation;
- for dog walking within 500 meters from the permanent address, residence or accommodation.
2. Rules on services
The security measures related to are lifted, thus, premises or venues for services requiring a personal appearance are no longer required to be kept closed.
3. Rules on catering premises
Staying in catering premises is only allowed in order to wait for takeaway goods. For the application of this Government Decree, catering premises shall not be considered as business premises.
4. Temporary protective measures in business premises
According to the Government Decree, business premises must be closed between 9:30 in the evening and 5:00 in the morning. Business premises may be open subject to the protective measures set forth in the Government Decree. Businesses, that do not undertake to comply with the protective measures of the Government Decree, must be closed and only the staff is allowed in the premises of such businesses.
A business with a shopping area of ten square meters or less may have one customer at a time in addition to those employed there. A business with a shopping area of more than ten square meters may have an average of no more than one customer per ten square meters at a time, in addition to the staff (If one-tenth of the area of the shopping area in square meters is not an integer, the value obtained should be rounded up from 0.5, below which it should be rounded down). A minor under the age of 14, a helper for a person over the age of 65 and a helper for a person with a disability shall not be included in the square meters -based restriction.
A business without a shopping area may be open if the operator or manager of the business ensure that the people waiting in line before the business keep 1.5 meter distance from each other.
The operator or manager of the business:
- must display in front of the entrance of the business - in addition to the opening hours - how many customers may stay in the shopping area at the same time as a result of the calculation;
- ensure that (i) those who waiting for entry – except people living in the same household - keep a distance of 1.5 meters from each other; (ii) the possibility of hand disinfection is provided at all times in the shopping area; (iii) the surfaces in the shopping area are continuously disinfected; (iv) disinfection of shopping equipment (shopping cart, basket) is continuous.
Everyone must keep at least 1.5 meter distance from others – except with people living in the same household – while staying in the area of business premises and services or waiting in front of the location of business premises and services. The owner and/or the operator of the business must ensure compliance with the protection measures.
IV. Consequences of breaching the provisions of the government decree
The owner and/or the operator of a business must ensure compliance with the protection measures. In case the provisions of the Government Decree are breached, a penalty between HUF 100,000 and HUF 1,000,000 may be imposed (and shall be paid within 15 days) on the owner or the operator of the business and the police may close the premises for at least a day and for a maximum of one year. The penalty may be imposed more than once within one day.
The sanctions may be applied simultaneously and no appeal is available against the decision imposing the penalty.
The sanctions shall not apply if the owner and/or operator of the premises has taken the necessary measures to remedy the situation, in particular, if (a) the offender has been called upon to leave, and (b) the police have been informed if the offender did not comply with such request.
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