After some initial confusion regarding the use of the Covid Safe Ticket (CST), the Flanders Government clarified that cinemas and amusement parks are allowed to require it from visitors, but only if they also comply with all other rules that apply to mass events.
Following the latest Consultative Committee on Tuesday 26 October, the Brussels and Walloon governments decided to make the CST mandatory everywhere with 50 visitors or more, but this was not the case in Flanders.
The Flanders Government decided that asking people to show their CST was only allowed in the hospitality industry, sports facilities, the healthcare sector, nightclubs and discos and at events from Monday 1 November.
Cinemas and amusement parks were not included in the Decree regulating the scheme's use, but the Federation of Cinemas of Belgium still announced shortly after the press conference that they would also introduce the CST in Flanders "for the safety of the public and the staff in the cinemas" from Friday.
This led to confusion, as they were not allowed to make that decision, according to Flemish MP for the N-VA party Lorin Parys.
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"The decision [about where the CST is allowed] has now been taken, and it is very clear," Parys said on VRT television programme Villa Politica. "As far as the current situation is concerned, there is no expansion in sight."
Still, the cabinet of Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon clarified to VRT on Monday that cinema and amusement park owners are also allowed to ask for a CST, even though they were not named in the Decree regulating its use.
If they do, however, they must let visitors know in advance and clearly advertise it. From then on, they are considered an event and must also comply with all other protocols for food and drink, as well as ventilation, that apply to mass events.
Apart from those sectors, this is where the CST is mandatory in Flanders:
- for the indoor hospitality industry (a CST is not required to sit on the terrace, nor is it to go quickly inside to use the bathroom),
- in fitness centres and other sports facilities,
- in nightclubs and discos,
- at events from 3,000 people inside and 5,000 outside.
Additionally, while the Flanders Government did not make the CST mandatory in the below establishments and sectors, they are allowed to decide for themselves if they want to use the scheme:
- in healthcare institutions: hospitals, residential care centres, rehabilitation centres, facilities for people with disabilities,
- at events from 200 people inside, and 400 people outside (if the CST is not used, face masks and distance rules still apply),
- organisers of a public event with a smaller audience can also decide to use the CST, but visitors have to be made aware of this in advance,
- municipalities can make local rules for events more strict.
