The Constitutional Court of Ukraine received a submission from 48 MPs, which appealed against certain provisions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which introduced the so-called "weekend quarantine," providing for a number of restrictions on the activities of business entities on Saturday and Sunday.

"On November 23, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine received a constitutional submission from 48 MPs of Ukraine regarding the compliance of the Constitution of Ukraine (constitutionality) with the provisions of subclause 17 of clause 10, clause 15 of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers' decree No. 641 on the establishment of quarantine and the introduction of enhanced anti-epidemic measures in the territory with a widespread of acute respiratory disease COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, dated July 22, 2020, as amended, the press service of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine said on Monday.

According to the information, the authors of the motion believe that certain provisions of this decree do not correspond to a number of norms of the Constitution of Ukraine, and they also said that the issues raised in the constitutional submission are of particular social and economic significance, since they concern, among other things, the life and health of citizens.

The constitutional submission is currently pending before the court.

According to deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy Olha Sovhyria (from the Servant of the People faction), the MPs will only appeal against certain provisions of the Cabinet of Ministers on the "weekend quarantine." They also appealed against the provision of the decree, which stipulates for the prohibition of planned hospitalization measures by health care facilities, except for those provided for by this decree.

"According to the constitutional submission, the introduced restrictions violated the equality of constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens, as a result of the prohibition to work for some citizens, while other citizens work. The authors of the submission believe that the prohibitions appealed in the submission are unconditional, and their actual implementation leads to significant (over 50%) loss of income (earnings) from business entities that work in various economic domains," Sovhyria wrote on her Facebook page.

In turn, she said the restriction on the implementation of planned hospitalization measures provides for a selective approach to the provision of medical care, contrary to the provisions of Article 49 of the Constitution of Ukraine.

In addition, it is also noted that the appealed restrictions were introduced without introducing martial law or a state of emergency on the territory of Ukraine, which is a prerequisite for limiting a number of constitutional rights in accordance with Article 64 of the Constitution of Ukraine.

"We draw your attention to the fact that the subject of the appeal in this submission is not the introduction of quarantine in general. Now the court is deciding the issue of initiating constitutional proceedings," Sovhyria said.