Covid passport in Belgian Wallonia is no longer justified, says a court ruling

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Namur Court of First Instance has upheld the arguments of the non-profit organization ‘Notre bon droit’ . The (Covid Safe Ticket) CST vaccination passport violates fundamental rights and freedoms without any objective reason and declares it unconstitutional.

The extension of the Covid Safe Ticket  CST until April 15 in Wallonia was judged unjustified by the Court on Tuesday.

The court considered that the principle of proportionality justifying the use of this tool to limit the transmission of Covid-19 is no longer guaranteed.

The arrival of the new Omicron variant, highly contagious, has changed the situation, vaccination being less effective to prevent an infection of this mutation of the coronavirus.

On January 7, the Court of Appeal of Liège, seized by “Notre bon droit”, had considered that the use of the Covid Safe Ticket was an “objective, necessary and proportionate” measure. However, it considered that the CST infringed on everyone’s freedoms. Less than a week later, the Walloon Region decided to extend this measure until April 15.

This decision was again contested by “Notre bon droit”, which considered that the evolution of the sanitary situation and the predominance of the Omicron variant did not justify its extension for a period of three months.

“When the Court of Appeal of Liege rejected us in January, it based itself on a study of April 2021 to justify the use of CST and its proportionality given its objective of limiting the transmissions of the coronavirus,” explains Audrey Lackner, lawyer of ‘Notre bon droit’.

“The figures show that with Omicron, vaccination loses effectiveness and no longer allows this objective to be met.”

The Walloon Region now has fifteen days to repair its “fault”, without which it is exposed to financial penalties. “There are several possible scenarios, ranging from the abolition of the CST to its adaptation,” continues the lawyer of ‘Notre bon droit’.

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