Bill on Sunday trade put to rest

The final vote on the the bill calling for an outright ban on Sunday trade put together by the League of Polish Families (LPR) is scheduled for April 1. The bill was already rejected by the Sejm in the first stage this January, and experts do not expect that decision to change next month.

There is, however, an alternative bill proposed by Law and Justice (PiS), which would limit the trade ban to national holidays. This bill is likely to be passed at the April 1 session.

Krzysztof Kajda, director of the legal department at the Polish Confederation for Private Employers (PKPP) Lewiatan considers the alternative bill "a reasonable solution that appeals to employers to a greater extent than the proposal from LPR. The economic impact of the PiS bill is less drastic when compared to the potential loss of 60,000 jobs, which a complex ban could entail - an unnecessary blow to the growing economy."

Organizations such as PKPP Lewiatan, Ipsos and Pentor have all published data relating to Polish consumer habits, which show that over half the population does its shopping on Sunday and that Poles are generally opposed to a ban.

The economy has seen a dramatic boom in the investment in shopping centers over recent years, based on the local tendency for large-scale weekend shopping. This kind of state-imposed regulation on the free market could put a crunch on already over-crowded Saturday shoppers, which could lead to two divergent possibilites - an expansion of the supermarket and hypermarket network or a marked shift in consumer habits towards alternative resources.