The Supreme Court issues a verdict against stores that bypassed Poland's Sunday trading prohibition.
The Supreme Court has rendered three decisions reversing the acquittals by lower courts for businesses employing different strategies to evade Poland's Sunday trading prohibition. In each instance, the Minister of Justice had requested the Supreme Court to annul the verdicts.
The current government implemented the Sunday trading ban in 2018 after a campaign led by the Solidarity trade union and the Catholic church. However, certain businesses attempted to take advantage of loopholes that permitted them to remain open by providing cultural, sporting, or tourist services. Some establishments, for instance, established "reading clubs" or provided sports equipment rentals, contending that such activities justified Sunday openings.
The Supreme Court has delivered three verdicts reversing the acquittals by lower courts of businesses employing various strategies to bypass Poland's Sunday trading ban. In each instance, the Minister of Justice had petitioned the Supreme Court to annul the verdicts. The Sunday trading ban was instituted by the present government in 2018, prompted by a campaign led by the Solidarity trade union and the Catholic Church.
Nevertheless, certain enterprises attempted to take advantage of loopholes permitting them to remain operational by providing cultural, sporting, or tourist services. Some establishments, for instance, established 'reading clubs' or provided sports equipment rentals, contending that this made them eligible to operate on Sundays. However, the Supreme Court has determined that for an establishment to qualify for the ban exemption, cultural, sporting, or tourism activities must constitute the primary focus, with other forms of commercial activity being secondary.
The first of the verdicts was handed down on 13 September and concerned the display in alcohol shops of racks with sports equipment for rental. The second judgment, delivered on 20 September, also concerned the use of the same exception.
The third judgment was handed down on 18 October and concerned the opening of an in-store library in a shop owned by a large franchise chain. The chain has not been named, although it has previously been reported such a “readers’ club” was opened in a shop that is part of the Intermarché network.
The rulings were welcomed by the State Labour Inspectorate (PIP), which had requested that justice minister Zgbniew Ziobro, in his other guise as prosecutor general, appeal against lower-court decisions to acquit the businesses in question.
“I am satisfied with the Supreme Court’s ruling,” said Chief Labour Inspector Katarzyna Łażewska-Hrycko. “From the beginning, PIP has stood by the position that the interpretation adopted by labor inspectors and our office is correct.”
“I also hope that, in the future, traders wishing to circumvent the Sunday trading ban will consider this issue in the context of the judgment just handed down,” she added.
The PiS government has regularly criticized businesses that have tried to circumvent the trade ban. Last year, a minister met with representatives of the retail industry to remind them that Sunday is “time for prayer and family”, not shopping.
However, the future of the Sunday trading ban is now uncertain after PiS lost its parliamentary majority at elections earlier this month. It appears almost certain that a new government formed by opposition parties will now take power.
The main group within that coalition will be the Civic Coalition (KO), which during the election campaign pledged to end the Sunday trading ban if it comes to power.
KO instead wants to provide every worker with the guarantee of two free weekends per month and double pay for working on their days off. One of its prospective coalition partners, Third Way (Trzecia Droga), wants to compensate workers for working on Sundays with either higher pay or an extra day off.