They warn that “there is no situation of imminent and serious risk that justifies the restrictions” and denounces the “legal uncertainty” and the “arbitrariness” of this measure.
The association of cinemas in the Basque Country (EZAE) and the Federation of Cinemas of Spain (FECE) have asked the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country (TSJPV) to adopt “extremely precautionary measures” in the face of “the serious losses” that it causes them the eating ban “ in the exhibition premises due to the covid-19 pandemic.
EZAE and FECE have made this decision known in a note, in which they have also denounced the, in their opinion, “legal insecurity” and the “arbitrariness” of this measure which, in their opinion, also represents a “violation of the principle of equality for comparative offense and lack of justification and proportionality “.
They warn that “there is no imminent and serious risk situation that justifies the restrictions” of the order of the Basque Government, while emphasizing that in movie theaters “there is no social interaction”, because “all the spectators are in the same management, the activity takes place in silence, the removal of the mask is punctual, the spaces are very spacious and with optimal ventilation systems, and not all customers consume food or do so at the same time “.
They have recalled, in this sense, that in the cinemas of Euskadi “the joint loss per day, by not allowing the consumption of sweets and soft drinks, is 27,432 euros” which already adds up to an accumulated of “384,041 euros in these two last weeks”.
“It is important to remember – the statement continues – that this activity represents an average of 30% of the profits of Basque cinemas, although in some of them it reaches 45%”, so it is a restriction that “seriously threatens the survival of many rooms if it is prolonged in time “.
In this sense, they consider “absolutely insufficient” the aid of 200,000 euros announced by the Department of Culture and Language Policy of the Basque Government to alleviate the fall of spectators to their businesses as a result of the pandemic and the restrictive measures.
For this reason, both associations have presented this Tuesday an administrative contentious appeal before the TSJPV in which they demand the adoption of “extremely precautionary measures”, against the order of October 6 of the Basque Health Council that prohibits the consumption of sweets, soft drinks or similar in movie theaters.
Specifically, movie theaters demand that through the emergency procedure the validity of the second and fifth sections of the annex to the order be “suspended,” which would allow food to be consumed again in the screening rooms.
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