Background information

On 17 March 2020 the Danish government extended a law on containment measures regarding infectious diseases, including prohibiting assemblies and large gatherings (LOV nr 208 af 17/03/2020). This resulted in a prohibition of assemblies over 500 people as a containment measure of COVID-19. As a result of the measure many large arrangements and events were cancelled at the expense of the organising body; for example concerts, festivals and sporting events. In order to support some of the arrangers, the government and the parties in parliament agreed on a compensation scheme for cancelled larger arrangements on 20 March 2020.

BEK nr 456 af 20/04/2020 Bekendtgørelse om forbud mod store forsamlinger i forbindelse med håndteringen af COVID-19.

Content of measure

The compensation scheme applies to the economic loss of organising bodies as an effect from cancellation, postponement or substantial changes from one or several arrangements due to COVID-19. In order for the applicant to receive compensation, the arrangement has to meet the following requirements:

• Period of cancellation is between 6 march 2020 and 31 March 2020
• Open to public enlistment
• Minimum 1,000 participants
• Minimum 500 participants from risk groups

The compensation for cancelled larger arrangements was the first out of four large subsidy schemes that the Danish government has introduced: The intent is to support the businesses, while protecting the jobs of the individuals in order to ensure a faster recovery of the economy on the other side of the pandemic.

Use of measure

The Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen) has a webpage that regularly updates information regarding number and payments of the different compensation schemes. As of 20th of September 2021, the numbers from the compensation scheme for cancelling larger events are:

• Approved applications: 715
• Total compensation paid: DKK 789 million (€106 million)

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement as case not in social partner domain	No involvement as case not in social partner domain
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

The social partners were not involved as the initial legislation (in this case prohibition of gatherings) is based on measures of containment, which is outside the domain of social partners.

Views and reactions

The social partners have not expressed any views in particular about this measure.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 01 April 2020: Faktaark: Kompensationsordning for aflysning af større arrangementer som følge af COVID-19 (kum.dk)
• 18 April 2020: Aftale om forlængelse og udvidelse af kompensationsordning til arrangører (kum.dk)
• 20 April 2020: Bekendtgørelse om forbud mod store forsamlinger i forbindelse med håndteringen af covid-19 (www.retsinformation.dk)
• 28 August 2020: Bedre vilkår til særligt hårdt ramte dele af dansk erhvervs-, idræts- og kulturliv (www.regeringen.dk)
• 27 October 2020: Udvidelse af hjælpepakker (www.danskmaskinhandel.dk)
• 16 December 2020: Tillæg til aftale om genåbning af generelle kompensationsordninger (jyllands-posten.dk)
• 09 February 2021: Yderligere forbedringer af hjælpepakkerne for ikke mindst de mindre erhvervsdrivende (em.dk)
• 17 March 2021: Statistik for kompensationsordninger
• 12 October 2021: Statistics for compensation schemes (erhvervsstyrelsen.dk)
• 09 December 2021: Glædeligt med hurtig aftale om kompensation (www.danskerhverv.dk)