YourNewsLegal
MAY 19, 2021: REOPENING OF THE TEMPORARY TERRACES IN PARIS
Restaurateurs, Bar Managers & Cafes:
What are your rights and obligations?How to prepare ?
Dorean Avocats tells you everything!
May 19, 2021: Start of “return to normal”
On May 19, 2021, bars, restaurants and cafes will once again be able to welcome customers on the terrace.
Following these announcements from the government, the Paris town hall wanted to perpetuate the ephemeral terraces set up since the summer of 2020, after the first confinement. Buthe applicable legal framework remains quite vague for many restaurateurs.
Therefore we are goingattempt to clarify this regulation.
1- LEGALLY: WHAT IS AN EPEMERAL TERRACE?
A temporary terrace installed as an extension of an establishment is a private occupation of the public domain.
Indeed, roads, sidewalks and parking spaces are the property of public entities. These are assets belonging to the public domain.
When a private person wishes to occupy an outbuilding in the public domain, this must be issueda temporary occupation authorization (AOT) of the public domain.
Article L2122-1 paragraph 1 of the general code of property of public entities specifies, in fact, that:
“No one may, without having an authorizing title, occupy an outbuilding in the public domain of a public person mentioned in article L.1 or use it within limits exceeding the right of use which belongs to all ".
Therefore, can temporary terraces be installed freely by restaurateurs and bar & cafe managers as part of the announced deconfinement measures?
YES :In May 2020, the City of Paris exempted bars, cafes and restaurants from AOT and authorized them to encroach, free of charge, on the public domain by installing new ephemeral terraces or extending existing ones..
Last November, the City of Paris decided to extend this systemuntil June 30, 2021 (6).
NOW, if it is possible to install these ephemeral terraces without prior authorization, restaurateurs and managers of bars & cafes are nevertheless bound by obligations
Overview of the rights and obligations for the installation of ephemeral terraces on the public domain of the City of Paris from May 19.
2- THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF RESTAURANTS
The city of Paris has decreeda charter of commitment (1) which determines the rights and obligations of restaurateurs and managers, regarding the installation of ephemeral terraces.
This charter was issued in application of the municipal decree of May 6, 2011, amended, regulating displays and terraces installed on public roads (2)
2.1 - Where is it possible to install the temporary terrace?
If it is authorized to extend its ephemeral terrace onto the public domain (sidewalks and parking spaces), it is:
-Forbidden to extend the terrace onto a ground floor of a dwelling or in front of a neighboring business, without formal authorization;
-Forbiddento occupy the following locations: parking space reserved for disabled people; space reserved for taxis; bicycle station; space reserved for scooters; Mobilib parking spaces; charging stations for electric vehicles; location reserved for cash transport; cycle path or lane; bus corridor;
-Mandatoryto respect the free movement of pedestrians on the roadway (at least 1.60 meters of width reserved for pedestrian circulation, and the installations cannot exceed 50% of the useful width of the sidewalk).
-Mandatoryto respect the conditions of access, occupancy and movement of people with disabilities inside and between authorized terraces (for people with reduced mobility: ramps, passage width, etc.; for visually impaired people: no dangerous obstacle or one that cannot be detected with a cane, etc.)
-Mandatory to respect access for firefighters and emergency vehicles (obligation to reserve a passage with a minimum width of 4 meters, not to hinder emergency access to the facades of buildings, to fire hydrants, to roadblocks gas outlets, networks and concessionaire structures and building entrances).
2.2 - How should the ephemeral terrace be constructed?
He is :
-Mandatoryto use lightweight and aesthetic devices that can be easily and quickly dismantled;
-Forbiddento use furniture fixed to the floor or creating a closed volume;
-Forbiddento install an advertising device, heating, air conditioning, misting or any other electrical or mechanical installation
2.3 - What are the obligations for operating your temporary terrace?
Restaurateurs and bar & cafe managers must:
- Use the terraces only between8 a.m. and 10 p.m.;
- Respect the tranquility and activity of the neighborhood;
- Limit nuisances linked to the activity, whether noise (no outside musical broadcasting is permitted) or olfactory;
- guarantee the maintenance and cleanliness of the installation and its surroundings;
- s'prohibit the use of plastic dishes or cups ;
- facilitate the implementation of works of general interest, by carrying out the immediate dismantling, upon request, of the installation.
- Display the City of Paris’ commitment charter (link at the end of the article)
2.4- What health protocol to follow? (3)
- The terraces are limited to a gauge of 50% capacity until June 9 (then 100%)
- Tables are limited to 6 people
- Service and consumption are seated
- The operator is required to enforce physical distancing
It will nevertheless be mandatory – before any installation –to declare the terrace on the online platform of the city of Paris
3. FREE Ephemeral TERRACES?
One question remains: what about these temporary terraces being free?
According to article L. 2125-1 of the general code of property of public persons, an authorization for temporary occupation of the public domain can only be granted for payment:
“Any occupation or use of the public domain of a public person mentioned in article L.1 gives rise to the payment of a fee.".
That is to say, private persons who encroach on public property are obliged to pay a fee. Cases of exemption from this fee are very rare.
However, the government had precisely planned in Ordinance No. 2020-460 of April 22, 2020, (4) to allow the suspension of the payment of state occupation fees for companies that have been particularly affected by the consequences of the health crisis. . Companies which were not yet occupying the public domain at the time of the health crisis were also able to benefit from this exceptional exemption. This decision allowed restaurateurs to extend, free of charge, their terraces onto roads, sidewalks, squares, etc.
The principle of free admission was established in Paris by a deliberation of the Paris Council of July 23 and 24, 2020 (5) then extended until June 30, 2021 (recalled by deliberation of November 17 and 18, 2020 (6). Creation and the operation of ephemeral terraces on public property will therefore be authorized free of charge until this date.
Regarding the months to come, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, declared in an interview with the Sunday newspaper, published on May 2, 2021:
“If bars and restaurants can reopen in mid-May as announced, we will not impose terrace fees on them straight away.” Wishing to perpetuate the ephemeral terraces, she therefore affirmed that they will remain free at least “until the end of the summer» (7).
On the other hand, when it comes to free terraces at the start of the next school year, nothing is less certain. The mayor of Paris declared that the City could not afford to extend this free service indefinitely, both for economic and legal reasons.
Edited by: Agathe Brun-Bellut, Niels Bernardini
SOURCES:
(1)https://cdn.paris.fr/paris/2020/09/30/2a4ed2d3227f189494adbce923b86cba.pdf ;https://cdn.paris.fr/paris/2020/09/30/625b873306fea9598f67c5fd8e1e25c3.pdf
(2)https://cdn.paris.fr/paris/2019/07/24/eff37b79e38853fcd6e0f99de59fbe18.pdf
(4)https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000041814597
(5)http://a06.apps.paris.fr/a06/jsp/site/plugins/solr/modules/ods/DoDownload.jsp?id_document=153993&items_per_page=100&sort_name=&sort_order=&terms =terrasse&query=terrasse&fq=seance_string%3AJULY%202020&fq=type%3AD%C3%A9liberation
(6)http://a06.apps.paris.fr/a06/jsp/site/plugins/solr/modules/ods/DoDownload.jsp?id_document=154706&items_per_page=100&sort_name=date&sort_order=desc&terms =TERRACES&query=TERRACES
SUMMARY
