Business leaders protest over law forcing large stores to close on state holidays

Large retail outlets in the Czech Republic will be forced to close their doors on seven state holidays every year after the Chamber of Deputies approved a Senate bill to that end in the face of stiff resistance from the Czech Chamber of Commerce, which says it is discriminatory.

Photo: Kristýna Maková

The move was also firmly opposed by the right-wing parties in Parliament, though it had long been advocated by trade unions. The legislation now requires the signature of the president to enter the statute books.

The new law means that big stores will no longer be able to serve customers on New Year’s Day, Easter Monday, May 8, September 28, October 28, December 25 or December 26. On December 24 – on the eve of which Czechs traditionally celebrate Christmas – large retailers will have to shut at noon.

The lower house was voting on the move for the second time on Tuesday. Deputies had previously decided that large shops should be shut only on New Year’s Day and two of the Christmas holidays. However, the Senate insisted that MPs again consider its original proposal and a majority raised their hands for it at the second attempt.

The ban will apply to all retailers with sales floors of 200 m2 or more, as well as pharmacies, filling stations, shops at airports or train stations and sales outlets in hospitals. Pawn shops and second-hand shops will also be shut.

Failure to comply will result in fines of up to CZK 1 million and can climb to five times that figure for repeated breaches. The legislation will come into force three months after being entered in the Collection of Laws.

Trade unions had been pushing for this change for around a decade. Their argument – shared by left-wing legislators headed by former trade union congress head Jaroslav Zavadil of the Social Democrats – is that it will allow workers to spend state holidays with their families.

Opponents counter that the law is discriminatory. They also say it doesn’t deal with whether small stores in shopping centres will also have to keep their shutters down.

The head of the lower house’s economics committee, Ivan Pilný of the centre-right ANO, slammed the bill, describing it as “a naïve attempt at social engineering.”

Representatives of the opposition Civic Democrats and TOP 09 complained that it aims to control how people spend their free time and when they can go shopping.

The Chamber of Commerce said it would deprive employees and seasonal workers at large retailers of overtime for holiday and night shifts.

The president of the business association, Vladimír Dlouhý, said the legislation was unnecessary, artificial and discriminatory, adding that it went against the trend in Europe.

Furthermore, the argument that it will help harmonise work and family life does not stand up as this is only being applied selectively, said Mr. Dlouhý.

Prior to Tuesday’s vote, the Chamber of Commerce had called on legislators to take the matter to the Constitutional Court on the grounds that it amounts to discrimination.