Italy's bars and restaurants not to ask for ID when checking for Green Pass covid certificate.

The Italian government is moving to clear up confusion over Green Pass protocols after interior minister Luciana Lamorgese said on Monday that bars and restaurants cannot ask for people's identification cards.

The Green Pass, which shows that people have been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from covid-19, is required to dine indoors in restaurants and bars under new rules in force since 6 August.

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In the wake of complaints from restaurant and bar owners, Minister Lamorgese said that "compliance with the rules is important" and did not exclude "random checks" by police. 

When the new Green Pass rules came into effect on Friday, the system required bars and restaurants to check the certificate along with a valid identification document to prove the person is the rightful holder of the certificate.

The minister stated yesterday that the owners of the premises must check that customers are in possession of the Green Pass even if "they cannot ask them for an identity card."

Lamorgese said the matter would be clarified imminently but ruled out that it was the task of police to carry out controls as this "would mean distracting them from their priority task, which is to guarantee security."

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In a live interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, Lamorgese compared going to the restaurant with the Green Pass to "going to the cinema and showing the ticket", stating that "restaurateurs must not be police officers."

Last night sources from the interior ministry, cited by news agency ANSA, reiterated that the police "are fully committed to ensuring compliance with the rules on the use of the Green Pass."

Roberto Calugi, head of Confcommercio's Italian Federation of Public Businesses (FIPE), gave a guarded welcome to the minister's intervention yesterday, telling ANSA it was "appreciated", even if "it would be good to clarify" the situation.

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"If a person shows a Green Pass of another person and is discovered in random checks by the police, a bartender cannot be responsible for it and in turn risk a fine," said Calugi.

Yesterday the Italian health minister Roberto Speranza announced that 20 million Green Pass certificates had been downloaded in Italy over the previous three days.

For full Green Pass details (in Italian) see the Certificazione Verde website. There is also a helpline tel. 800912491 (open daily 08.00-20.00) and email address cittadini@dgc.gov.it.

For official information about the covid-19 situation in Italy - in English - see the health ministry website.

Photo Today.it.