Legislation:SBR/R002-012/Original text

Enactment clause, short and long title

Be it enacted by the Grand Forum of All Citizens, as follows—

Minor Council Referral 002-012, Emergency Act 2020

An Act to establish a mechanism for governmental response to emergency situations.

Chapter I: On the Declaration of a State of Emergency

Section A: Declaration

1. The Chief Magistrate may ask the Minor Council to declare a State of Emergency.
2. A State of Emergency may only be declared in the event of:
   1. A natural disaster;
   2. A health epidemic;
   3. Widespread violence;
   4. War; or
   5. Any other threat to the people or Our Serene Republic.
3. Any such declaration must include a fixed time limit, not exceeding six Calendar Months, after which any State of Emergency is to end. This does not preclude a new State of Emergency being declared.

Chapter II: On the Measures Able to be Taken

Section A: On the Emergency Fund

1. There is to be an Emergency Fund, from which the Magistracies may spend during a State of Emergency, on managing the emergency.

Section B: Measures for provision of essential services

1. Essential services are defined here as:
   1. Food;
   2. Water;
   3. Power;
   4. Information relevant to safety and security;
   5. Medicines;
   6. Anything that may prove necessary to protect against the relevant threat.
2. The relevant Magistracy may, for the duration of a State of Emergency, assume control over the supply of essential services, for the purpose of:
   1. Protecting the supply against hoarding;
   2. Protecting consumers against price gouging; or
   3. Rationing supply.
3. The relevant Magistracy may subsidise producers in order to ensure supply.

Section C: Measures for protection of the people

1. The relevant magistracy may, for the duration of a State of Emergency, control the movement of the people on the following ways:
   1. Curfew;
   2. Quarantine;
   3. Mandatory self-isolation;
   4. Closing external borders; or
   5. Closing borders between Local Communities.

Chapter III: On the Protection of Rights

Section A: Commitment to Rights

1. Our Serene Republic commits itself to the protection of rights, and as such, is to exercise only the minimum measures necessary for the protection of the people.
2. Our Serene Republic commits itself to the principles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and as such, in the exercise of these measures, is not to derogate those rights as specified in Article 4 of the Covenant, under any circumstances.