The government is preparing to withdraw much of the legal framework created to respond to the covid-19 pandemic. At stake are 51 diplomas that are now considered unnecessary given the evolution of the pandemic situation. But The withdrawal does not affect measures that are still in place, such as the mandatory use of masks in health facilities and homes.
To DN, the Ministry of Health confirms that the use of masks and visors “remains mandatory in health facilities and services, except community pharmacies” and also “in residential or reception structures or home support services for vulnerable populations, the elderly or people with disabilities, as well as integrated continuous care units of the National Network Integrated Continuous Care”. Guardianship also adds to that is “finalizing the reassessment, through the relevant departments of the Ministry, of the contexts and indications for wearing a mask”.
According to the parliamentary services, in the technical note accompanying the government proposal, the General Assembly of the Republic has since March 18, 2020 passed a total of 57 laws containing measures related to the public health emergency caused by Covid-19, so that only six are now exempt from this express repeal. For the government, these laws are already “expired, anachronistic or obsolete due to the evolution of the pandemic”, so with this explicit repeal “we gain clarity and legal certainty, allowing citizens to know without any doubt what the pandemic legislation remains applicable” . This is already the second time the executive has made progress on the serial repeal of pandemic legislation.
Among the 51 diplomas that will now be expressly withdrawn, in a debate and vote scheduled for next week, are the measures to combat the health pandemic, as well as the social and economic support measures for families and companies that were determined at that time. This is the case of the exceptional scheme for situations of late payment of rent due under city leases for housing and non-housing, fiscal measures to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises or the extraordinary mechanism for the liquidation of debts for non-housing. -compliance payment of tuition fees in public higher education institutions. The diploma specifies that the repeal “is without prejudice to the generation of future consequences of facts that occurred during the period of validity of the respective legislative acts”.
However, the widespread repeal of these laws is not consensus. This is the case of the law that established a transitional regime for the issuance of a medical certificate of multiple disabilities for cancer patients, establishing a special procedure for the issuance of the certificate. The government itself determines that in this specific case the withdrawal will not take effect until May 31 of this year, but the Livre puts forward a proposal to maintain this exceptional arrangement until the current situation of delays is overcome, which earned several reparations from the Ombudsman, reporting user complaints indicating waiting times of up to two years. “The need for a transitional regimen for the issuance of a Medical Certificate of Multifunctional Disability remains, perhaps exacerbated, given the delays that the pandemic has imposed on the holding of medical councils, largely due to the allocation of physicians to combating the “, argues Rui Tavares, who argues that it is essential to maintain this special procedure “until that delay is remedied, that is, until it has been verified at national level that the time between the request and the medical board is within 60 days , what is the legal term”.
Another measure that has emerged in response to the pandemic and that Livre wants to maintain is the possibility of videoconferencing meetings of local authorities and intermunicipal authorities. For this diploma, the Government itself stipulates that the article of law which stipulates, with regard to collegiate bodies, that “the participation by telematics, namely video or teleconference of members of collegiate bodies of public or private entities in the respective meetings, impedes the normal functioning of the body, in particular as regards the quorum and deliberations”. and that too “the provision of public evidence provided for in general or particular regimes may be carried out by videoconferencingprovided that there is an agreement between the jury and the respective candidate and the technical conditions for this”.
A legislative “chaos”
Called to comment on the government’s proposal, the Bar Association is adamant: the proposal comes too late. “The legislative chaos that occurred in times of pandemic has thus been mitigated, if not gone, with the current bill.” Recalling that “it has always rebelled against this chaos and against unconstitutional actions by the government”, the Bar Association says: “I agree that these 51 laws, some of which conflict with” the rights, freedoms and guarantees of citizens, be repealed. However, the Order warns that the “chaos created by this copious legislative production will not completely end” with this repeal, as the diploma stipulates that the “production of future effects of facts occurred during the period of effectiveness of the respective legislative acts”, thus “in the future there will certainly be questions about the time when this legislation was in effect”.
It should be remembered that the legislation enacted at the time of the pandemic earned successive unconstitutionality rulings by the Constitutional Court. In October last year, the TC had already issued 23 declarations of unconstitutionality of measures during the pandemic, emphasis on limitations of rights, freedoms and warranties.
Source: DN
