FOR Communication 1/2019: Amendment to the Law on the prohibition of trade on Sundays: superficial corrections to a bad law
- In November 2018, the first draft of the amendment to the Act on the prohibition of trade on Sunday was in the Parliament
- The proposal extends the ban on trade in tobacco products and on shops that also provide postal services – thus limiting economic freedom
- On the other hand, a shopkeeper trading on Sunday in his own name can be helped by some family members
- The project was submitted by a group of deputies - no public consultations nor regulatory impact assessments were carried out, and the proposals are inadequate to the assumed objectives
- These small changes do not address the main shortcomings of the bill, which is an example of a bad law that unnecessarily interferes in economic freedom
In November 2018, the Sejm received a deputies' bill amending the act on limiting trade on Sundays and public holidays and some other day. Within a few days, the first reading was carried out, the draft was discussed by the Sejm Social and Family Policy Commission which introduced minor amendments.
It should be emphasized that the Law on the prohibition of trade on Sundays is one of the most blatant cases of a bad law in recent times. This act disproportionately interferes with economic freedom and contains numerous errors of legislative nature, which make it impossible to decide unequivocally whether it applies to a particular trader or not.
Authors:
Patryk Wachowiec, legal analyst
patryk.wachowiec@for.org.pl
Marcin Zieliński, economist
marcin.zielinski@for.org.pl
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