January 14 is the starting date for entrepreneurs to adapt to the new business conditions. We are talking about the entry into force of amendments to the Law “On Ensuring the Sanitary and Epidemic Welfare of the Population” concerning the prevention of the spread of coronavirus disease.
These changes provide for fines for sole proprietors and legal entities on the following grounds:
1) for the admission of a person to public buildings, structures where public services are provided, and public transport during the quarantine period without warning, issued in any form and in any way, about the need to wear personal protective equipment and / or for lack of response to the stay in such places of persons without personal protective equipment;
2) for customer service during the quarantine period by employees of business entities and / or directly by a natural person – entrepreneur without wearing personal protective equipment.
Let’s understand consistently.
Current legislation defines public buildings and structures as buildings and premises that are designed to accommodate institutions, enterprises, organizations that provide services to individuals (population) or legal entities (community and state). In view of this, both owners of buildings that rent out separate offices or other premises to entrepreneurs, as well as such entrepreneurs themselves, can receive a fine.
To impose a fine, it will be sufficient to violate at least one of the above requirements – the lack of appropriate warning or response to the stay of persons without personal protective equipment. Therefore, even if you reacted to the stay in the room of persons without personal protective equipment, but did not warn about the need to stay in the room wearing personal respiratory protection, the imposition of a fine should not be avoided.
There will be no more or less difficulties with the warning, because it will be enough to place a warning “No entry without personal respiratory protection!” On the front door. But with the organization of a proper response to the stay in the room of persons without personal protective equipment is increasingly difficult.
As a means of appropriate response, the Law states: oral remarks on the need to wear personal protective equipment, termination of service, calling a representative of the National Police with a report of an administrative offense. If at the entrance to the building or room to follow the presence of a mask is not difficult, it is much more difficult to do it during the whole stay of the person in the room, especially when it comes to shopping malls and other large areas.
At the same time, the wording of the Law is such that for each recorded fact of such a violation, you will receive a new fine each time. That is, if 15 people are admitted without masks, you will be fined for each person admitted separately.
The question arises about the area of business that provides services that can not be provided otherwise than without a mask. These are beauty salons, which, in order not to receive a fine for customer service without a mask, will be forced to refuse to provide services by beauticians and make-up artists, as well as restaurants and cafes. This significantly complicates the business in the relevant areas of activity.
What is the size of the fine? The size of the fine can range from 200 to 300 tax-free minimum incomes, which in hryvnia can range from 3400 to 5100 UAH.
Who is authorized to impose fines? Authorized officials of territorial bodies of the central executive body that implements the state policy in the field of sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population, or in other words – employees of the State Food and Consumer Service, will be able to impose fines.
We should not forget about the existing provisions of the law, which provide for liability for violation of the quarantine regime – we are talking about Art. 443 КУпАП «Violation of rules concerning quarantine of people». Simultaneous imposition of a fine under both provisions of the law is inadmissible, because, in fact, there will be a situation of simultaneous prosecution for the same violation.
These legislative changes create space for unfair competition, as there is a risk of deliberately sending a person to remove the mask in your room. In general, the adopted changes give the impression of another attempt to make the lawful behavior illegal by amending the law.