the Senate refuses identity verification by cafetiers and restaurateurs

The Senate made a first modification to the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass, on the night of Tuesday 11 to Wednesday 12 January. The upper house has removed the possibility for the managers of places and activities subject to the pass to verify the identity of its holder. The deputies will be able to restore this provision, which had been welcomed freshly by the concerned, in the continuation of the parliamentary shuttle.

The text voted by the National Assembly at first reading provided that in addition to the police, the managers of places and activities subject to the pass could carry out identity checks, but under very limited conditions. This was to allow them to request a “official identity document”, “when there are serious reasons for believing that the document presented is not authentic or does not relate to the person presenting it”.

The Senate will resume consideration of the bill on Wednesday afternoon. Some 104 amendments remain to be examined, including nearly fifty on Article 1, which sets out the transformation of the health pass into a vaccination pass. Against the advice of the government, the senators planned to limit the possibility of requiring the presentation of a vaccination pass to people over 18 years of age, as well as a mechanism of“automatic shutdown” of the vaccination pass.