THE Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) Scotland has said that it is “deeply disappointed” after a judge refused to uphold its challenge against the Scottish Government’s vaccination passport scheme.
The trade group had launched legal action against the scheme – which will now go live tomorrow (1st October) as planned – on the grounds that it “raises serious issues with definition, market distortion, discrimination, resource allocation and economic impact amongst others”.
The challenge was dismissed at the Court of Session this morning.
In a statement, the NTIA said it was “deeply disappointed that this policy will now proceed”.
“The ruling is particularly disappointing given that senior counsel for the Scottish Government only produced evidence materials by email at the last minute, literally whilst Lord Keen was making submissions on our behalf, and before the Scottish Parliament had the opportunity to review the same papers,” said the group.
“We will continue to challenge Scottish Government on this issue as we start to address the practical and physical challenges presented by the implementation of COVID passports across Scotland. Our position as to the wider legitimacy of the scheme is preserved, and we continue to take legal advice on our options.
“Meanwhile, it is essential that Scottish Government substantially increase efforts to communicate with the general public to increase awareness of the real impact this will have across the whole nightlife environment in Scotland starting from Friday 1st October.”
