The National Discos Association (ADN) said today, after clarification from the Government, that discotheques with a code of Classification of Economic Activities (CAE) of bars can reopen tomorrow, Sunday, and open until 2:00 am, subject to restaurant rules.
Speaking to Lusa news agency, the president of ADN, José Gouveia, stated that he had "an informal phone call" with the Secretary of State for Commerce, João Torres, in which the government official provided "some clarifications", namely that the exception of bars open from Sunday, August 1st, complying with the restaurant rules, also applies to discos with bar CAE.
Lusa contacted the Ministry of Economy's office, which indicated that «paragraph a) of article 12 of the resolution of the Council of Ministers n.º 101-A/2021, of 30 June, states that the discotheques, bars and dance or party halls or other similar venues or facilities'.
"In turn, article 17 of the same resolution determines that only bars or other non-spectacle drink establishments may, exceptionally, operate subject to the rules established for restaurants and the like, provided they comply with the rules and guidelines of the DGS [Directorate-General for Health] and that spaces intended for dancing or similar are not used for this purpose, and must remain unusable or, alternatively, be occupied with tables intended for customers», said the tutelage.
The Ministry of Economy's office does not categorically confirm that clubs can reopen with the rules of restoration, but with the CAE of bars it is possible that they will.
"An establishment that is considered a disco with the CAE as a bar, in the image of what bars can do at this time, which is to be open until two in the morning, with restaurant rules, and these restaurant rules are not mandatory serving food, but they have to do with the distance between tables, the limited number of people per table or the requirement of a digital certificate at the door during the weekend, so these restaurant rules applied to bars also allow clubs with CAE bar that they do it», declared the president of ADN.
José Gouveia also mentioned that, “as a rule, all clubs have the CAE as a bar, which may not be the main one”, because there is a bar with a dance floor and other names.
“By the way, one of our struggles is to have a nightclub CAE so that conditions are different from those of other establishments”, he pointed out.
As president of ADN and as manager of nightclubs, José Gouveia advises entrepreneurs not to reopen these nightlife spaces, "although it is a little contradictory in relation to what you might think", explaining that the summer period, regardless of or no pandemic, it's not the best time for indoor clubs.
Another issue is the time limit until 2:00 am, which "is not very profitable", so "it is preferable, at this time, to absorb the support that the State will be able to give and in October, perhaps even in September - try to fight for it to be a little earlier -, reopen with all the pomp and circumstance with slightly longer hours and, perhaps, who knows, already with a dance floor allowed, with the possible obligatory use of mask", explained the representative of the clubs .
In addition to clarifying the possible reopening of nightclubs with the rules of restoration, the president of ADN said he had received from the Secretary of State for Commerce "the good news" that "there has been an acceleration in support" and that, "until Tuesday at the latest Thursday, the supports, the APOIAR program, will be ready to inject more money into companies, with the reference to the last quarter of 2020" and which depends on the sales declines that each establishment or each company presented in relation to 2019.
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