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Nightclub owners beg for regulation
?Had Les Enfants Terribles been opened at midday yesterday, Pascal Hoffmann, the owner, would have been liable to a fine "not exceeding Rs 500.? So says the Places of Public Entertainment Act of? 1941.
?1941! Nightclubs didn?t even exist then! And that?s the legislation that regulates our trade!? exclaims Percy Fabien, owner of Kitsch in Ebène. The two men were sipping mineral water and engaged in a deep ? and angry ? conversation. Pascal Hoffmann is the secretary of the association regrouping nightclub owners across the island and Percy Fabien is a member of the association.
The two men feel powerless in the face of the State?s determination not to regulate the industry. Legally, nightclubs don?t exist - even though they pay an annual licensing fee of Rs 51,000 to the Tourism Authority (that has taken over from district councils in issuing permits and collecting licence fees). And, since they don?t ?exist?, the rules and regulations are made as and when.
The Places of Public Entertainment Act makes provision for ?theatres, picture houses, cinematographs or dancing halls and includes any premises used temporarily or permanently for the exhibition of any film, the performance of any play, or the holding of any concert, dance or charity bazaar?. Nightclubs are meant to fit in somewhere in this description, even though as they are today, discotheques came into existence well after that piece of legislation was enacted.
As a consequence of this anomaly, nightlife is an unregulated industry to all intents and purposes. ?And yet whenever a problem crops up ? as they are bound to seeing that the rules and regulations are made up as we go along ? we are summoned by the commissioner of police who takes great pleasure in telling us that the public would like to see us close down?, says an angry Pascal Hoffmann.
One example of a regulation made up as nightlife became more and more popular is that opening hours - or rather closing hours - of discothèques were moved from midnight to two o?clock in the morning on Fridays and three a.m on Saturdays. The ?original? law says "midnight" on all days of the week except Saturdays. The problem is that nobody respects those ?regulations?. No nightclub on the island shuts down at two or three o?clock in the morning ?and the police know this?, says Pascal Hoffmann.
The law about minors</B>
This became an issue two years ago when a firearm was used outside Buddha Club in Grand Baie. The authorities, until then happy to let nightclubs - and clubbers - be, decided that the law should be applied and discotheques should close at legally prescribed hours. Then nightclubs owners engaged into talks with the authorities and word was out that the obsolete law would be reviewed and nightclubs would be allowed to open until 5 a.m.
?We never got to that because the hype died down and the authorities were happy to let us be?, says Hoffmann who doesn?t think this is an acceptable situation.
The nightclub owners met again with the police two weeks ago after bouncers from a club in Quatre Bornes beat up a few customers. ?We were conveyed to another meeting because another problem had cropped up and the authorities wanted another piecemeal solution. We talked about amending the law ? us, nightclub owners, practically begged for regulation ? because we want to do things properly but I don?t think the authorities are in a hurry to regulate the industry?, adds the owner of Les Enfants Terribles.
Pascal Hoffmann thinks that regulating the industry would solve a few problems ? among which a major one regarding underage drinking. "I was asked by one policeman about allowing minors into the club. Of course I don?t, if I know they are minors, that is. But unless the law requires of clubbers that they carry an ID and allows me to ask to be shown a piece of ID at the door, how are we supposed to control minors?"?
Percy Fabien expresses his puzzlement over the reluctance of the authorities to legislate an industry that is generating more and more income, while attracting more and more members of the public as well as tourists. Pascal Hoffmann shakes his head and goes back to sipping his water. ?I really don?t get it?, he mutters.
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