Rules For Establishments That Reopen: Only After 10 Am And With One Person For Every 20 Square Meters.

Rules For Establishments That Reopen: Only After 10 Am And With One Person For Every 20 Square Meters.

The capacity for commercial and service spaces will be 1 person per 20m2. In a 200m2 store (the largest to reopen), there maybe 10. You cannot wait to be seen inside the hairdresser.

The Government published in the Diário da República (electronic) the decree declaring the situation of the calamity in the country from May 4, outlined after the resolution of the Council of Ministers.

The order details some rules for the commercial spaces that will be able to remain open - in the case, for example, of “flower selling establishments”, but also grocery stores, kiosks and some other specific commercial points that exceptionally maintained activity - and for those that reopen next Monday, May 4th. This is the case with car stands and bookstores, regardless of the area, but also stores with open doors to the street up to 200m2 and establishments providing personal hygiene services, such as hairdressers, barbers, manicurists, pedicures and the like, which can serve customers only with “advance booking”.

One person per 20m2. Maximum of ten in 200m2 stores

According to the resolution of the Council of Ministers, there are several rules to be followed “in all places where trade and services activities are carried out under the present regime”, of calamity (which starts on the 4th and will be reviewed every 15 days ), whether they are “commercial establishments, wholesale or retail, or large commercial areas, commercial complexes, markets, auction houses or service provision establishments”.

• Among these rules is the stocking of commercial spaces. "The allocation of spaces accessible to the public must observe the maximum occupancy rule of 0.05 people per square meter of area", reads the Government diploma. In other words, commercial spaces may have up to 0.05 people per square meter inside, which is equivalent to one person per 20 square meters. As the stores that can reopen are those that have up to 200 square meters of area, in the case of larger stores, up to 10 people will be allowed. But the maximum occupation in the interior will always depend on the area.

• There are other obligations to maintain. For example, inside open commercial and service spaces, it will be necessary to maintain “a minimum distance of two meters between people, those who are actually purchasing the product or receiving the service”. And it will be necessary "to ensure that people remain within the establishment only for the time strictly necessary to purchase the goods or services".

Services provision. Waiting inside to be served? Not

“Waiting situations for service inside service establishments” that are open - for example, barber shops, hairdressers and beauty and aesthetics spaces - will also be prohibited and “adoption of approved codes of conduct for certain activity sectors or establishments, as long as they do do not contravene the provisions of the present regime ”.

• Commercial establishments that reopen from Monday will also have limitations on their opening hours. According to the Government diploma, "establishments that only summarize their activity after the entry into force of this regime, cannot, in any case, open before 10 am".

• The opening hours can also be "adjusted" by "own initiative", by "concerted decision", by "decision of the managers of the spaces where the establishments are located" or by the decision of "the member of the Government of the economy area ". The Executive further advances: the opening hours "may be limited or modified by order of the member of the Government responsible for the economy, during the period of validity of the present regime".

Clothing stores must control access to changing rooms

In the case of clothing stores that will be open from next Monday onwards, there are specific restrictions.

• In a section on hygiene standards - some more general, such as the reinforcement of “cleaning and disinfection” actions and the “containment, as much as possible, by workers or customers, of touching products or equipment” -, we read in the diploma: “In retail clothing and similar establishments, during this phase, control of access to tasters should be promoted, safeguarding, when applicable, the partial inactivation of some of these spaces, in order to guarantee the minimum safety distances, and ensuring the disinfection of the dials, clothing supports and hangers after each use, as well as the availability of an alcohol-based antiseptic solution for use by customers ”.

• The Government order also provides that “retail or service establishments that maintain their activity under the terms of the previous articles” must “give priority to health professionals, elements of the security forces and services, protection and relief, the personnel of the armed forces and the provision of social support services ”.

See here all the rules defined by the Government for the operation of commerce from May 4.

Source: www.observador.pt