Never in a month of Sundays

When it came into effect on March 15th, the new law prohibited the opening stores bigger than 200 sqm on most Sundays, while smaller retail formats will only be allowed to open on Sunday if run by the owner or her/his close family members. Thus both domestic and foreign retail chains are now unable to do business seven days a week. “The only exception from the ban will be Sundays during Advent and one freely chosen Sunday a year,” says Eszter Fazakas, an attorney and the head of the commercial practice of Noerr Hungary. “However, some basic retail services, such as pharmacies, bakeries and florists, will be able to remain open,” she adds. However, these rules are not the end of the list of the newly-introduced shopping restrictions. The working hours for every kind of store during the rest of the week will be limited to 6 am to 10 pm only. For this reason, most malls will continue to operate on Sundays, offering customers access to all the retail and service out