Poland reportedly to ban retailing on every other Sunday

Poland reportedly to ban retailing on every other Sunday
Both the retail tax and the Sunday shopping ban were borrowed from Hungary's populist Fidesz government. / Photo: CC
By bne IntelliNews September 28, 2017

The Polish government has made a political decision to ban retailing on every second Sunday, the head of the parliamentary labour commission told local media on September 27.

The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has been mulling some sort of limit on Sunday retailing for over a year. Retailers, however, insist that industry and the economy – which remains hugely dependent on consumption – could be hit hard should they be forced to close their doors on the sabbath.

The government-backing Solidarity trade union, which originated the idea, claims the ban is in the interest of employees in the retail sector. The powerful Catholic church has also long said Sunday shopping runs counter to traditional values.

“There is a political decision to ban retailing on every other Sunday,” Janusz Sniadek, the head of the parliament’s committee on labour and former chairman of Solidarity, told TOK FM radio.

The current Polish government has targeted the foreign-dominated retail sector before. An attempt to impose a tax on retailers’ turnover – with the exception of small, mostly Polish-owned shops – was however torpedoed by the European Commission in July.

Both the retail tax and the Sunday shopping ban were borrowed from Hungary's populist Fidesz government, which has been the source of no little inspiration for PiS since it took office in Warsaw in November.

Fidesz, however, suffered a humiliation in April last year when it was forced to retract the ban, which had proved unpopular with voters since it was introduced in December 2014.

The work on a law to impose the ban will now accelerate so that it enters into force from January 1, 2018, Sniadek said.

 

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