Legal action against corona regulation Pub owner from Bonn wants to overturn nationwide curfew
Bonn · The owner of the pub "Die Wache", Tobias Epping, wants to overturn the nationwide curfew at the Higher Administrative Court. The decision on the Bonn regulation is still pending.
For the time being, the closing time in Bonn's gastronomy remains. However, the city of Bonn has now lifted its general ruling on this matter. Two landlords from the old town had brought an action against this decision before the Cologne Administrative Court on Friday. As a result, the city administration had voluntarily suspended its general ruling for the two pubs Nyx and Die Wache until midnight this Tuesday morning, explained court spokeswoman Lilo Gerdes on Monday in response to a GA enquiry. The Chamber then postponed an urgent decision on Monday. Now it has been settled.
In principle, the events have overtaken the plaintiffs: Since Saturday, the Corona Protection Ordinance of the state in its latest version has been in force parallel to the municipal general ruling. This has been in force since Monday with immediate effect as long as Bonn has an incidence rate of more than 50 infected persons per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days. This means that only the ban on the sale of alcohol between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. has been suspended for the two plaintiff landlords, because the Land has only imposed this ban together with the curfew from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m.
An action against the Land regulation must be brought before the Oberverwaltungsgericht (Higher Administrative Court) in Münster. "We initiated such proceedings on Monday morning," explains Wache owner Tobias Epping to the GA. With his predominantly student audience and their late night out habits, he was threatened with an 80 percent drop in sales, he explains. In addition, there were only a few cases of infection in the catering trade.
A pub owner from Düsseldorf also filed a complaint with the OVG on Monday, Thomas Kolaric, Managing Director of the Düsseldorf Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOG), reported to the GA. Kolaric appealed to the municipalities to withdraw their own decrees, as the state had now set a binding framework anyway. Bonn has done so. Only the other provisions, such as the obligation to wear masks in pedestrian zones and shopping streets, the obligation to notify private parties and the limitation of the number of guests at weddings and funerals, remain in force.
Original text: Martin Wein
Translation: Mareike Graepel
