Contagions rise, the Government’s grip: the guidelines for bars and restaurants in the last Decree

The Covid-19 is scary again. After the summer, with the number of contagions steadily decreasing, the hospitals back to almost normal and intensive therapies emptied, the curve of contagions and hospitalizations returns to rise throughout Italy, and the Government runs for cover. Choosing, once again, just as in a full emergency, the emergency decree. That Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, after having found a compromise with Regions and local authorities, signed and published tonight. Among the measures adopted, those that interest us most concern the activity of bars and restaurants. To which an entire paragraph of article 1 is dedicated. In essence, the only big news is in the closing hours: midnight as a maximum limit for bars, pubs, restaurants, ice cream parlors, pastry shops that serve the table, 9 p.m. for all the others.
Obviously, in compliance with the health and hygiene regulations in force, the activity of home delivery and take-away remains allowed, provided that meals are not consumed on site or nearby. Food dispensing exercises in hospitals and airports remain open. Activities that, however, remain subject to limitations decided by the Regions, in case the epidemiological picture should worsen.
In the meantime, there is the serious economic state of the Italian restaurant business, which after the months of closure had to deal with the vertical collapse of international tourism, and with turnovers that put thousands of businesses in serious difficulty. In this sense, comes like a godsend from heaven the chain bonus that allocates 600 million euros in grants to restaurants and farmhouses in difficulty, for the purchase of products from agricultural and food chains, including wine, including PDO and PGI, enhancing the value of the raw material of the territory, as provided by the DL August, which yesterday received the final go-ahead in the Senate.
As Coldiretti points out, it is a recognized contribution to those who have suffered a significant drop in turnover or fees in the months between March and June 2020 over the same period of 2019. Catering, moreover, is one of the sectors most affected by the Covid emergency, with a 34 billion dollar crack for the whole of 2020 according to Ismea data, due to the economic crisis, the collapse of tourism and the drastic reduction in out-of-home consumption caused by the Coronavirus emergency. Which has led to a 40% drop in non-domestic consumption for breakfast, lunch and dinner outside the home, with a dramatic negative avalanche effect on the entire food and beverage chain due to lack of food and drink purchases, from wine to beer, from meat to fish, from cheese to cold cuts, from fruit to vegetables according to Ismea data.
The August Law Decree, continues Coldiretti, also clarifies that the Imu exemption for agricultural land also applies to owners who are family members of the direct farmer (Cd), pensioners Cd and professional agricultural entrepreneurs (Iap) still in business, partners Cd and Iap of partnerships operating in agriculture. This resolves thousands of disputes with which the municipalities unjustifiably demanded the payment of the tax of these subjects. Coldiretti also supported the allocation of € 20 million in 2020 for measures to promote the marketing of products in the fourth range in difficulty due to the drop in consumption, with a drop in purchases that reached peaks of 30% during the most acute phase of the pandemic, to reach an average of 6% in the first half of the year according to Ismea.
A breath of oxygen to help a sector that has suffered a serious blow after being characterized, concludes Coldiretti, by uninterrupted growth in recent decades with 81% of consumers of fresh vegetables buying fourth range vegetables including salads in bags, baby carrots and more. To be noted also the facilitation measures to support the start-up of new businesses by young people under 30 and the possibility of using unused resources for the voluntary reduction of grape production to strengthen the measure of the reduction of social security contributions already provided for the wine sector and for the support of PDO and PGI wines.

Focus - The Decree of October 13, 2020 on bar and catering activities
The activities of catering services (including bars, pubs, restaurants, ice cream parlours, pastry shops) are allowed until midnight with consumption at the table and until 9 p.m. in the absence of consumption at the table; catering with home delivery is always permitted in compliance with health and hygiene regulations for both packaging and transport, as well as catering with take-away, with a ban on consumption on site or nearby after 9 p.m. and without prejudice to the obligation to respect the interpersonal safety distance of at least one meter; the activities referred to in the first period remain permitted on condition that the Regions and Autonomous Provinces have previously ascertained that the performance of the above activities is compatible with the development of the epidemiological situation in their territories and that they identify the applicable protocols or guidelines suitable for preventing or reducing the risk of contagion in the reference sector or similar sectors; said protocols or guidelines are adopted by the Regions or by the Conference of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces in compliance with the principles contained in the protocols or national guidelines and in any case consistent with the criteria set out in Annex 10; the activities of canteens and catering continue to be allowed on a contractual basis, which guarantee the interpersonal safety distance of at least one meter, within the limits and under the conditions set out in the previous period; in any case, the food and beverage services in hospitals and airports remain open, with the obligation to ensure compliance with the interpersonal distance of at least one meter.