The Ministry for Ecological Transition will have to reveal the “technical or scientific reports” on which it relied to prohibit the use of air conditioning below a certain temperature and force commercial establishments to turn off shop windows and install automatic door-closing systems under the air conditioning energy management and savings plan, approved in August last year with the aim of reducing consumption in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. .
So The Transparency and Good Governance Council (CTBG) requires it after having ignored the request of an applicant that dates back to August 2, 2022. Specifically, the department headed by Teresa Ribera has not responded to the applicant within the legally established maximum period of one month without stating cause or reason to justify it. This period can be extended for another month in the event that the volume or complexity of the information requested makes it necessary and prior notification to the interested party.
“It is obligatory to remind the Administration that Observance of the maximum response period is an essential element of the content of constitutional law of Access to public informationas the legislator himself underscored in the preamble of the LTAIBG when stating that in order to facilitate the exercise of the right of access to public information, the Law establishes an agile procedure, with a short response period”, the CTBG points out in the resolution consulted by this medium.
27 degrees in summer
Specifically, under the Executive’s plan, the use of air conditioning in summer was limited to 27 degrees and heating in winter to 19 degrees in public buildings, commercial spaces and department stores, transport infrastructures (airports and train and bus stations), cultural spaces and hotels, and the lights in shop windows and public buildings that are unoccupied must be turned off after 10:00 p.m. All these measures are in force until November 1 of this year.
For their part, health and hospital centers, training centers (schools, universities or nurseries), laundries, hairdressers, gyms and the means of transport itself (trains, planes, airports, ships…) were excluded from the obligation to limit the temperature. . In addition, they were not imposed on those centers where necessary due to the specificities of the sector, as well as in the case of hotel rooms, which are privately regulated. In the rest of the hotel (for example, restaurants, cafeteria, common spaces) it must be applied.
Thus, the temperature limits were set for habitable establishments that are conditionedlocated in buildings and premises intended for administrative use (including floors or office areas, general lobbies and areas for public use), commercial (shops, supermarkets, department stores, shopping centers and the like) and cultural (theatres, cinemas, auditoriums , congress centers, exhibition halls and the like), as well as in establishments for public entertainment and recreational activities, catering (bars, restaurants and cafeterias) and transport of people (stations and airports).
The bars and restaurants have a little more flexibility and can limit the use of air conditioning to “around 25 degrees”, taking into account the recommendations of labor legislation. Businesses and establishments must justify when they do not apply the temperature limit on the thermostat. With regard to the lights in the windows, businesses have to lower the leads from 10:00 p.m. This measure applies exclusively to the lighting of shop windows and public buildings that are unoccupied at that time, so it does not affect ornamental lighting.
In addition, establishments must have posters, signs or screens that inform of the measures that are being applied and how they contribute to energy savings. The information has to include temperature and humidity. They can also communicate other measures that they are adopting voluntarily and the signs must be visible from the entrance or access to the buildings. All these measures are also in force until November.
On the other hand, locals have the obligation to have an automatic door closing system. They can’t have the door open like this while the air conditioning or heating is running. This applies to buildings and premises with access from the street. In this section, exclusions are not considered, unless the security legislation that applies to the building or premises prevents compliance with it. The establishments had until September 30 to equip themselves with the mechanism. The Government launched a line of aid of 100 million euros for service companies.
