Filenews 19 October 2023
Thousands of citizens who choose swimming pools instead of the sea for their swim may find themselves exposed due to the fact that it paves the way for their automatic renewal of their operating license, whether they are checked healthily or not, while, at the same time, in some cases their use without lifeguards and without changing rooms is legalized.
The issue was also discussed in 2019, causing reactions, when EDEK MP Ilias Myrianthous submitted a relevant bill and is now back before the parliamentary committee on Internal Affairs. Based on Mr. Myrianthous' draft law, as at least the Town Planning Department had indicated, tourist and other unified developments would be able to operate swimming pools without toilets and changing rooms.
A representative of the Department of Town Planning, commenting on the draft law, had also indicated the following: "Based on the provisions of legislation, public pools should have toilets and changing rooms and keep specific distances from the borders. By evolving/differentiating the term "swimming pools", as included in the draft law, in single residential developments, the obligation to have toilets – changing rooms but also to keep distances from borders, etc., is essentially bypassed".
His opposition to the provisions of the proposed law was also expressed by the then Head of Health Services, Robert Karis, who, referring to a provision for automatic renewal of the operating license of swimming pools, had stated: "We disagree with the automatic renewal of the license. We believe that the annual inspection by our Office and the issuance of a certificate (as a prerequisite for the issuance of the operating license) will be an essential lever for the implementation of any deficiencies / omissions that will be identified during the audit".
Mr. Karis, commenting on the expansion of the term "swimming pool", had said that he adopts the definition that emerged after consultation with all stakeholders (in the context of the elaboration of a new bill) and which provides that: "Public swimming pool" means a pool generally intended for use by the public or by groups of the population, such as club pools, institutions, associations, schools, gyms, sports and medical centres, infirmaries, hotels, tourist accommodation, etc., irrespective of ownership or imposition of an entry or use price'.
The Myrianthous proposal for the definition of swimming pool includes facilities, with one or more areas used for swimming, recreation or other natural activities.
Hoteliers were in favour of the bill, through the then president of PASYXE. Hoteliers had also argued that swimming pools of 8-10 square meters should not require approval from the Electromechanical Service.
Reservations to the provisions of the draft law were expressed by representatives of the Ministry of Interior and the Union of Municipalities. The representative of the Union of Municipalities had said that there are serious observations and added that with the new definition given, it is not clear what a public swimming pool is. It also disagreed with the automatic renewal of the operating licence.
The representative of the CMO had agreed with the draft law, but, at the same time, supported the position of the Head of Health Services that something more comprehensive is needed legislatively.
Disagreement was also expressed with the provision that gives not only to those involved but also to anyone (not affected) to exercise hierarchical appeal, when a license to operate a swimming pool is not approved.
It is noted that the issue of modernizing the legislation concerning swimming pools began to be discussed in 2010, when an ad/hoc committee met. This was followed (29 July) by a meeting in the presence of the then Minister of the Interior, where it was decided to amend the legislation and divide swimming pools into categories. On May 21, an official of the Ministry of the Interior sent the bill to the Legal Service. On December 13, 2017, the Health Services sent a letter to the Ministry of Interior asking for information as to where the whole matter stands. This was followed by letters in 2018 and 2019 to the interior ministry. After several attempts, the Health Services were informed that the Ministry referred the matter to the Legal Service, which returned the bill to the Ministry for clarification. It then became known that some files related to the matter had been lost.
Finally, it is mentioned that the current legislation on public swimming pools dates back to 1992, while the relevant regulations date back to 1996.
