On November 10, 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron signed into law a bill that extends the government’s ability to declare a state of health emergency until July 31, 2022.
The government’s ability to declare a state of health emergency was introduced in the Public Health Code in March 2020, but was intended to be an exceptional measure that would sunset on April 1, 2021. This sunset date was pushed back to December 31, 2021, by a law adopted on February 15, 2021.
A state of health emergency, including a strict lockdown, was in place from March 23, 2020, to July 10, 2020. Measures to transition out of the state of health emergency were in place from July 11, 2020, until a state of health emergency was again declared on October 17, 2020. On June 1, 2021, measures to transition out of the state of health emergency were again implemented, this time in accordance with a law adopted on May 31, 2021. This law provided a framework to loosen the strict measures that were taken to slow the spread of COVID-19 while still allowing the prime minister to impose certain restrictions as necessary, including placing limits on travels or on the use of public transportation, mandating the wearing of masks, or limiting public gatherings.
This law also created the passe sanitaire, a vaccine passport that has been mandatory for accessing certain entertainment and cultural venues since July 21, 2021, and for accessing cafes, bars, restaurants, certain shopping centers, retirement homes, and long-distance modes of transportation since August 9, 2021. This passe sanitaire (also often spelled pass sanitaire) was required until November 15, 2021, but the new law adopted on November 10, 2021, allows the government to require it until July 31, 2022.
This new law also pushes back to July 31, 2022, the date on which the government’s authority to declare a state of health emergency sunsets. Declaring a state of health emergency would allow the government to again impose a strict lockdown on the French population.
The new law also reinforces the sanctions for fraudulent use of a passe sanitaire: lending one’s passe sanitaire to someone else so they can enter a venue requiring it is punishable by a fine of up to 750 euros (about US$847), while the fabrication, sale, or use of a fake passe sanitaire is now punishable by up to five years in jail and a fine of 75,000 euros (about US$84,655), compared to three years in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros (about US$50,793) previously. Furthermore, the termination of the “SIDEP” and “Contact Covid” databases, which keep track of COVID-19 infections and contact tracing information, is pushed back to July 2022.
Additionally, the new law facilitates the verification of the vaccination status of health care professionals, for whom vaccination against COVID-19 has been mandatory since September 15, 2021. However, whereas the government sought to mandate vaccination for nonmedical personnel of daycares and other childhood facilities, an amendment adopted in the parliament exempted these categories from mandatory vaccination.