French police officers on Trocadero square in Paris. File photoPARIS, Jan 15The French National Assembly (lower house of parliament) on Saturday in the second reading adopted a bill on the introduction of vaccine passes in the country. Earlier this week, the bill with a number of amendments was approved by the French Senate by a majority vote. Prior to this, on January 6, the bill was adopted by the National Assembly in the first reading. — 69 and eight people abstained. According to Agence France-Presse, voting began on Friday at about 15.00 local time (16.00 Moscow time) and ended only on Saturday at 04.03 (5 am Moscow time). The text, approved by the National Assembly on Saturday, will be considered by the Senate during the day. Then, on Sunday, the lower house of parliament must approve it definitively. At the end of December 2021, amid the intensification of the coronavirus epidemic and the rapid spread of the new Omicron strain, the French authorities announced the preparation of a bill that would replace sanitary passes with vaccine ones. According to the bill, a vaccine pass will be required when visiting restaurants, cafes, bars, cultural institutions, as well as on long-distance trains. The document will be issued only if you have been vaccinated against COVID-19. A negative test for coronavirus or the transfer of a disease will no longer be a reason for obtaining a QR code, as it was in the case of sanitary passes. Initially, it was assumed that the bill should come into force on January 15, but its consideration both in the National Assembly and in the Senate dragged on.
