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Of: TT
Published:
February 1 | Photo: Johan Nilsson / TT
Overcrowded on a bathing pier in Malmö this summer. The temporary pandemic law provides tools to close public places with large numbers of people. Stock Photography.
Shops closed, stops for parties in the premises of the tenant association and parks and beaches closed. With the proposals of the new pandemic law, the government will obtain tools similar to those of a blockade that will make Sweden look more like other countries.
But not yet.
The government is now working to introduce a temporary covid-19 law that will provide more powerful tools to stop the spread of the infection than those that currently exist. The goal is for it to come into effect on March 15 and, if possible, sooner.
– If you use the different parts of the law, there are great opportunities to take action that can be compared to the blockade of other countries, says Titti Mattsson, professor of public law at Lund University.
This presupposes that the government would go on strike at the same time as, for example, closing shops, gyms, museums and campsites, stopping public transport and flights, introducing a ban on meeting with more than a certain number of people in public places and it would prohibit people from staying in certain places like parks. and beaches. So take advantage of the most restrictive opportunities in the law.
There are limits
Some measures are close to the private sector, such as student celebrations and birthday parties can be banned in the common premises of the tenant-owner association.
– But you can not lock anyone in a house, I do not see possibilities of that, if it is not an infected person and it is done in accordance with the Infection Control Act, says Titti Mattsson.
Therefore, even if the government used all the possibilities of the law on a broad front, it would not be able to impose a curfew, as several EU countries have done.
The government also cannot prohibit people from traveling and relocating, even if it is possible to restrict buses, trains and flights.
– We have very limited opportunities to restrict freedom of movement, which is constitutionally protected. It’s always a demarcation of the proportional, says Titti Mattsson.
Also, the question is whether the government even wants to use the harshest measures. The Minister of Social Affairs, Lena Hallengren, has said several times that the purpose of the law is not primarily to shut down activities.
Instead, he thinks the other measures of the law are more useful: being able to limit opening hours and how many people can be on a bus or in a store, for example. Something that doesn’t work today
Can be punished
It is not only the government that can decide on the restrictions in the new bill. A closure can also be made at the regional level and a municipality can decide to prohibit people from being in a bathing place, park or other public place with great congestion.
Regardless of who decides, the measure must be proportionate, that is, no more restrictive than necessary. On what different activities, authorities and parties, of course, can have different points of view. But there are no objective criteria.
Until now, the government has had few legal opportunities to ban or restrict activities to prevent congestion and the spread of infections. Using the Code of Conduct to regulate public meetings and public events is forceful. And the Alcohol Law is not made for pandemic control, although now it stops selling alcohol in the pub after 10pm.
Instead, the Swedish strategy consists largely of advice, recommendations and regulations without the possibility of punishing those who violate them.
But with the new pandemic law, it will be different. There, the rules are linked to fines and the police have the right to intervene if, for example, someone refuses to get off a crowded bus.
The beginning of something new
The temporary covid-19 law is something new for the Swedish side. The government has only had similar opportunities for a short period this spring, when a temporary law was introduced without being used.
And the law can be a model for the future permanent pandemic law, which the government wants to produce.
– In the long term, it is difficult to know what consequences this law may have, says Titti Mattsson.
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