What is Covid Passport?

Q.- I am confused about what they are calling a ‘Covid Passport’. I thought that the Spanish courts had ruled that the government cannot force me to be vaccinated or tested for Covid. There are stories about it in the paper and television and Internet that we all will need the Covid Passport to get into bars and restaurants and clubs, but I am not quite clear. Can you explain how this works?

A.- Yes. First you are right that the government cannot force you as an individual to be vaccinated. But they can oblige licensed establishments such as bars and restaurants to meet certain requirements.

For example any place that serves food is required to pass periodic inspections for cleanliness and employees will need food-handler certificates. So these establishments are already controlled. Now the Junta de Andalucia has added one new requirement. Only those customers who can show they are free of Covid will be allowed to enter.

There is no ‘Covid Passport’ as such. The customer must prove by vaccination or recent test that he is free of Covid. So the legal obligation is on the establishment to make sure of proof. It is not on the individual, unless of course he wants to go inside the bar.

Send your questions for David Searl through lawyers Ubeda-Retana and Associates in Fuengirola at Ask@lawtaxspain.com, or call 952 667 090