From Iceland — Only One Third Of Every Infection Control Violation Has Been Fined

Only One Third Of Every Infection Control Violation Has Been Fined

Published April 23, 2021

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From 1 March 2020 to and including 20 April, 312 violations of the Epidemiological Control Act have been registered by the police. Of these, only 90 have been prosecuted, or almost 29% of the cases.

This is stated by the National Commissioner of Police in response to a question from Frettablaðið.

A total of 413 parties are involved in these cases; 349 individuals and 64 companies, as some of these parties were involved in more than one case.

More than one party can be registered in the same case and there are examples of the owner of the company and the company being both registered for one and the same offense.

Only criminal proceedings in about eight percent of cases

As previously stated, 90 cases have been found in criminal proceedings; 85 individuals and five companies.

With special regard to companies, cases of their offenses have been subject to criminal proceedings in almost 8% of cases.

The categories of offenses in question are breach of the obligation to quarantine, breach of quarantine, isolation not maintained or not complied with despite confirmed infection, breach of the Epidemic Prevention Act, breach of rules on public gatherings and breach of rules on closure of meeting places.

The National Commissioner of Police have not stated how much the fines cost the individuals or companies.

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