Supreme Court allows stores not to serve customers without masks

The lawsuit was filed by representatives of the Smolensk Center for Law and Sociology, who intended to challenge the recommendations of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the introduction in the regions of a regime of compulsory use of personal protective equipment (PPE). However, the claim was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

The plaintiffs drew attention to the clause according to which when a visitor who does not have PPE is identified on the territory of a shopping facility, trade organizations are advised to inform him about the need to comply with the requirements and about responsibility for violating the relevant regime. In case of disagreement of the visitor, the organizations have the right to refuse him service at the checkout. The plaintiff claimed a violation of consumer rights.

In a written objection, the respondent indicated that the recommendations were of a recommendatory nature, therefore, the rights and freedoms of the persons in whose interests the claim was made were not violated.

"Methodological recommendations are aimed exclusively at protecting the health and life of citizens, at ensuring a safe sanitary and epidemiological situation, there are no grounds for recognizing them as invalid in the contested part", - the court decision says.

Recall that on October 28, Rospotrebnadzor issued a decree according to which Russians must wear masks in public places. At the same time, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko did not see the need for a total mask regime throughout the country.

The recommendation to wear medical masks has sparked public outrage. Unlike residents of the countries of Southeast Asia, where it is customary to wear masks even without epidemics, in Russia they were skeptical and sometimes hostile. Experts are also trying to dispel the opinion about the benefits of these remedies. Other experts, on the other hand, claim that the maxi really do protect. For example, immunologist Alexey Tutelyan said that the mask reduces the risk of contracting covid to almost zero. “If a person suffering from coronavirus puts on a mask, then the probability of infection of a person standing next to them, taking into account social distance, is only 5%, and if both wear masks, then 1.5%,” he said.