The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Georgia
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Title 26 (Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics), Chapter 2, Article 14 (Food Service Establishments)
- Effective
- standing
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Business closureWorkplace rulesStanding duty
- Addressees
- specified businesses: food service establishments (restaurants, bars and clubs serving food, banquet and private event facilities, institutional and mobile food service)
- Character
- sanitary code duty
- Collection
- Standing duties: Georgia DUT-GA
Operative words
It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a food service establishment without having first obtained a valid food service establishment permit.... [section 26-2-373(a):]... the Department of Public Health shall have the power to adopt and promulgate such rules and regulations... including the establishment of reasonable standards of sanitation for food service establishments...
Penalty
Suspension or revocation of the food service permit; operation without a permit is unlawful (section 26-2-371); enforcement and inspection by the Department and county boards under section 26-2-375 and Article 2 of Chapter 5 of Title 31 (inspection warrants)
What it required
No restaurant, bar serving food, banquet or event facility or other food service establishment may operate without a permit issued by the county board of health under the Department's supervision; the permit is 'valid until suspended or revoked'; the Department sets binding 'standards of sanitation' (the Rules and Regulations for Food Service, Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. Chapter 511-6-1), and the Department and county boards 'are authorized to enforce this article and rules, regulations, and standards adopted and promulgated under this article' and to inspect the premises (section 26-2-375(a)). These permits and standards were the vehicle by which county environmental-health offices enforced the Governor's restaurant protocols (Exs. GA-018, GA-022 to GA-035).
Retrieval noteOfficial Code of Georgia Annotated, Titles 24-26 (Volume 21, 2023 replacement volume), Internet Archive item gov.ga.ocga.2024. Section 26-2-371 at PDF p. 427; section 26-2-373 at p. 428; section 26-2-375 at p. 431. The history lines show the last amendments to these three sections as Ga. L. 1985 and Ga. L. 2011, so the text is the text in force in 2020-2021. the rules are described here from the statute that authorizes them and are cited by chapter number only.