Controversy over Sunday opening hours

The Retail Workers’ Trade Union of Slovenia, which has sought Sunday opening restrictions for shops since 2002, has failed yet again in its efforts. Some retail companies requested the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia to re-examine the constitutionality of the amended Article 17 of the Law on Retail Trade that restricted the Sunday opening hours of shops. The court further postponed the date on which these amendments were to come into force. Therefore, shops selling essential goods may open again on Sundays without limitations.

The Retail Workers’ Trade Union of Slovenia (Sindikat delavcev trgovine Slovenije, SDTS) has failed yet again to restrict the Sunday opening hours of shops. The retail company Emona Obala appealed to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia (Ustavno sodišce Republike Slovenije, USRS) to re-examine the constitutionality of the amended Article 17 of the Law on Retail Trade (LRT) that restricted the opening hours of shops on Sundays. On 9 February 2006, the USRS once more postponed the date on which LRT amendments were to come into force. Therefore, shops selling essential goods have been allowed to reopen on Sundays without restrictions since 19 February 2006.

Trade union attempts to curtail Sunday work

On 24 October 2002, the Slovenian parliament adopted amendments to the LRT that enabled retailers to determine the opening hours of their shops on Sundays and public holidays, provided that they received the employees’ consent (SI0506301F).

SDTS was strongly against the amendments but failed to push through its own proposal on opening hours including Sunday opening restrictions. Therefore, the trade union requested the National Council (Državni Svet, DS), a so-called second chamber of the parliament (SI0207103F), to issue a ‘delay veto’ over the amendments and to postpone the adoption of those amendments to the LRT by one week. Since no veto was issued and the parliament proceeded to adopt the amendments to the LRT, SDTS prepared to call a legislative referendum on the issue.

In the meantime, SDTS wanted to restrict retail work on Sundays by demanding that employers in the sector pay large supplements to their employees for Sunday work. Although the trade union began to negotiate the amount of the Sunday supplement with the employers, the talks proved unsuccessful.

Referendum on opening hours of shops

As a result, SDTS continued its preparations for the referendum on the Sunday opening hours of shops. The referendum was held on 21 September 2003, but the response rate was only 27.5% of the population eligible to vote. Of those participating in the vote, 57.5% voted for the closure of shops on Sundays, while 41.7% were in favour of keeping shops open.

The results of the referendum were legally binding for the parliament, which was then obliged to amend the LRT. Its amendments, adopted in February 2004, only allowed shops offering ‘essential goods’ to open on a maximum of 10 Sundays a year. The only shops exempt from any Sunday opening restrictions would be those in small petrol stations, hospitals, hotels, airports, border crossings, and at bus and train stations that have limited floor area. The amendments should have come into force on 15 September 2004.

Constitutional Court ruling a victory for SDTS

On 14 May 2004, a number of retail companies including Mercator, Kompas MTS, Era and Petrol asked the USRS to examine the constitutionality of the amended Article 17 of the LRT, which restricted the Sunday opening hours of shops. The companies stated that the LRT was incompatible with the principle of free economic initiatives and several other constitutional principles.

On 21 April 2005, the USRS ruled that Article 17 of the LRT is not incompatible with the Slovenian Constitution. The exception was a part of Article 17, which was thus repealed, determining that the maximum floor area of shops that can open without restrictions on Sundays is 80 square metres. The USRS considered that this maximum floor area was determined in an arbitrary way and that the legislator should prescribe a new maximum floor area for insertion in the LRT. On the basis of the USRS ruling, the parliament adopted several amendments to the LRT on 20 December 2005 and the amended LRT was to come into force on 1 January 2006.

However, the request from Emona Obala for the USRS to re-examine the constitutionality of the amended Article 17 of the LRT has resulted once more in postponing the date on which LRT amendments were to come into force. Therefore, since 17 February, shops selling essential goods continue to open on Sundays without restrictions.

Commentary

The question remains as to how long the employers can block the Sunday opening restrictions by repeatedly asking the USRS to re-examine the constitutionality of the LRT. This practice could even be seen to undermine the principles of a democratic society.

Both the employers and the trade unions agree on including the controversial rules restricting the opening hours of shops on Sundays in a collective agreement (SI0604019I). However, SDTS wants to try again to restrict retail work on Sundays by forcing retail employers to pay large supplements for Sunday work. This has led to a stalemate and the situation remains the same as four years ago.

Štefan Skledar, Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (IMAD)