Corona fines rarely paid back so far

Just over a year after the end of the last Bavarian coronavirus protection rules, only a few people in Bavaria have had unjustified fines refunded. By the beginning of February, the district governments had approved 31 such applications, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Munich told the German Press Agency. In total, the Free State has had to pay back around 5300 euros so far. These are fines for violations of exit restrictions at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, which the Federal Administrative Court later declared to be disproportionate and therefore ineffective. In this context, only one application for reimbursement was still outstanding, 638 had been processed.

The corresponding ordinance is not the only corona rule of the Free State that has been challenged by the courts. Last year, for example, the Bavarian Administrative Court declared a quarantine obligation on returning from coronavirus risk areas from 2020 to be invalid with hindsight. However, the ruling is not yet legally binding. The state government has lodged an appeal with the Federal Administrative Court, a date for the hearing there is still pending.

The Bavarian Administrative Court has frequently dealt with the state's coronavirus rules even after they expired on March 1, 2023. According to the Ministry of Health, a total of 441 applications have been submitted to date to have Bavarian regulations reviewed by the court. Only six of these have been successful so far, three of which concerned the closure of leisure businesses at the start of the pandemic. In the case of the entry quarantine, the final decision is still pending.

"People's health has always been the benchmark and goal of government action," said a ministry spokesperson. "As a result, a large number of court decisions have confirmed that the path taken was a legally compliant one."

The majority of applications (290) were either rejected or withdrawn or were "otherwise settled". However, no decision has yet been made on a further 115 applications.