Sunday, bloody Sunday

The die has now been cast – by the Polish government. On November 24th 2017, the Seym, the lower house of the Polish parliament, passed a bill to restrict Sunday trading. A total of 254 MPs voted for the new legislation, 156 were against it and 23 abstained. The bill was then referred to the Senate in mid-December, which approved it with only some minor amendments. It now only requires signing off by the President. According to the new law, from March 1st 2018 it will only be possible for retailers to trade on two Sundays per month, which will be reduced to just one Sunday in 2019 before being banned completely in 2020 – with only a handful of exceptions. The ban will not apply to bakeries, patisseries, ice cream parlours or online stores (and due to this the law did not require the sanction of the European Commission). Furthermore, the new law introduces limitations on the construction of shops and other retail facilities at bus and train stations. The great unknown The