The regulation, which was not passed by parliament but by administrative means, which would apply to more than 80 million workers, probably exceeds the competence of the competent authority, the Supreme Court said on Thursday. This means that companies with more than 100 employees do not initially have to ensure that their employees are either fully vaccinated or regularly tested. An obligation to wear masks has also been stopped for the time being.

The regulation for companies was seen as a means of pressure from the government to persuade employees to be immunized in view of the complex tests and thus increase the vaccination rate in the USA.