New Supreme Decree extends State of Emergency and allows restart of new economic activities
On May 23, 2020, Supreme Decree No. 094-2020-PCM (“DS 094”) has been published, which extends the State of National Emergency and, at the same time, it allows the resumption of new economic activities and the continuation of those have been operating exceptionally to date.
The following main measures taken in DS 094 are as follows:
1. The State of National Emergency and compulsory social isolation (quarantine) are extended until Tuesday, June 30, 2020.
2. The list of activities that may be provided and accessed by circulating on public roads is expanded. These are listed in Annex of this Bulletin. They basically include:
a) those activities considered essential and included in Supreme Decree No. 044-2020-PCM (and its amendments);
b) those activities considered under Phase 1 of the “Resumption of Activities” strategy, adopted by Supreme Decree No. 080-2020-PCM; and
c) the following additional activities, including services related to:
i) e-commerce for the sale of clothing, footwear and household appliances, as well as the provision of books, school supplies and office supplies;
ii) support services for diagnosis, dentistry, ophthalmology, rehabilitation, human reproduction, veterinary, and other medical services other than those related to COVID-19 care;
iii) mobile applications for delivery services;
iv) independent technical and professional services such as IT technicians, plumbing, gardening, electricity, carpentry, laundry, appliance maintenance, equipment repair, hairdressing and cosmetology services, hardware stores, cleaning services, or home assistance. All these services must be provided at home;
v) services for the activities included in the “Resumption of activities” strategy, adopted by Supreme Decree No. 080-2020-PCM, pursuant to its implementation.
vi) Federated sports activities, including professional football, under protocols adopted by the IPD in coordination with MINSA. The practice of any of these activities must be carried out without an audience on sports venues.
3. The activities of numeral 2.c above shall gradually restart from Monday, May 25. For the purpose of said restart, the legal entities that carry out these activities must only register with the relevant sector and submit their Prevention Plans for COVID-19 before the SICOVID-19 of the MINSA.
4. The compulsory social immobilization schedule is changed (curfew), which shall now run from 9:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. the following day, with the exception of the departments of Tumbes, Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, Loreto, Ucayali, Ica and the provinces of Santa, Huarmey and Casma of the department of Áncash, in which it shall rule from 6:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. the following day.
5. On Sundays, the general compulsory social immobilization shall continue throughout the day. 5. As before, the strictly necessary personnel who participate in the provision of certain essential services may continue to circulate exceptionally during the compulsory social immobilization (curfew). Here are some subtle amendments to the previous situation:
a) The reference to services related to the health sector is removed, now limited to health supply and medicine services.
b) Regarding financial services, previously the exempted activities included those related to the continuity of said services. Under the wording of the new Decree, although the concept is extended to financial services in general, the reference to services related to them has been removed. It is not clear from such a change whether related services may now be considered as part of financial services in general and thus be allowed to develop during the curfew.
c) A specific reference to activities related to telecommunications has been included;
d) The reference to solid waste management has been amended, limiting it to cleaning and collection;
e) The transport of flows has been included as part of the activities that may be carried out during the “curfew”.
6. The total closure of borders and the suspension of international passenger transport by land, air, sea and river continue, except for humanitarian reasons. This limitation does not apply to the transport of cargo and goods, guaranteeing the entry and exit of goods from the country through authorized ports, airports and border points. Internally, the interprovincial transport of passengers is maintained, which does not apply to the transport of cargo and goods, and special air transport is now also allowed.
7. The use of private vehicles is now authorized for (i) the supply of food, medicine and financial services only and exclusively within the district of residence; and, (ii) the performance of the other activities indicated in number 2 of this Bulletin.
Private vehicles used for work purposes may only circulate with a permit issued by the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of the Interior.
8. The entities of the National Public Sector may restart activities up to forty percent (40%) of their capacity at this stage, for which they must prioritize remote work and implement or enable the virtualization of procedures and services, as well as establish, if applicable, the variation or extension of office hours.
Annex I
(a) Purchase, production and supply of food, including storage and distribution for sale to the public.
(b) Purchase, production and supply of pharmaceutical and basic necessity products.
(c) Assistance to health centers, services and establishments, as well as diagnostic centers.
(d) Employment, professional or business provision to ensure the services referred to in this annex.
(e) Assistance and care for elderly, children, adolescents, dependents, people with disabilities or people in vulnerable situations.
(f) Financial entities, insurance and pensions, as well as the complementary and related services to ensure their proper functioning.
(g) Production, storage, transport, distribution and sale of fuel.
(h) Accommodation establishments, for the purpose of complying with the established quarantine or for the accommodation of personnel who provide the essential services and goods listed in this standard.
(i) Media and in the case of call centers, only for services related to the emergency.
(j) Public sector workers providing services necessary for the care actions related to the health emergency produced by COVID-19, as well as those authorized to restart activities of the Public Sector, so that they may travel to their workplaces.
(k) In order to carry out the control functions related to the health emergency by COVID-19 under Law No. 31016, the personnel of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic and the Institutional Control Bodies are exempted. Likewise, the personnel of the National Superintendence of Labor Inspection – SUNAFIL and the labor inspectors of the Regional Governments are exempted.
(l) Services necessary for the distribution and transport of educational materials; the storage, transport, preparation and/or distribution of food from the social school feeding program, as well as the purchase, transport and distribution of supplies for maintenance of infrastructure and minor equipment for the prevention of COVID-19.
(m) Services for the activities included in the “Resumption of activities” strategy adopted by Supreme Decree No. 080-2020-PCM (Annex II of this Bulletin).
(n) E-commerce services for the sale of clothing, footwear, and electrical appliances, as well as the provision of books, school supplies, and office supplies, for education and work purposes.
(o) Support services for diagnosis, dentistry, ophthalmology, rehabilitation, human reproduction, veterinary, among other medical services other than those related to the care of the health emergency produced by COVID-19.
(p) Mobile application services for home delivery services provided by third parties.
(q) Independent technical and professional services such as computer technicians, plumbing, gardening, electricity, carpentry, laundry, appliance maintenance, equipment repair, hairdressing and cosmetology services, hardware stores, cleaning services or home assistance. All these services must be provided at home.
(r) Federated sports activities, including professional football. The practice of any of these activities must be carried out without an audience on sports venues.
(s) Other services that at the date of entry in force of the standard were already enabled to operate.
