Open stores on Sunday? here is where the project is

Spend your Sunday in a shopping center? Some people dream of it and it could become reality thanks to Guy Parmelin.Image: watson

In major cities, stores should be able to employ staff on Sundays in certain areas. Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin could decide on liberalization in this direction as early as January. Strong resistance is planned.

Stefan Ehrbar / ch media

In Switzerland, stores are closed on Sundays – in principle. Federal labor law prohibits the employment of staff at this time. Various exceptions, for example for shops at train stations and airports, for bakeries, kiosks or gas station shops, have led to a relaxation of the ban in recent years. A new exception could soon be added.

The Federal Council could allow large cities to define tourist zones in which certain businesses would be authorized to employ staff permanently on Sundays. In 2023, the department of Minister of the Economy Guy Parmelin (UDC) put out for consultation a modification of the order going in this direction.

Neither supporters nor opponents were satisfied. For the cantons, the proposed regulations are too restrictive, firstly because they create facilities primarily for luxury businesses. And secondly, because only cities with more than 60,000 inhabitants and whose share of foreign guests in overnight stays exceeds 50% could benefit from it. These are Zurich, Geneva, Lucerne, Basel, Lausanne, Bern and Lugano. For their part, the left and the unions are opposed in principle to an increase in Sunday sales.

Parmelin has a strategy

Since the end of the consultation procedure, the project has remained silent. But things are starting to change. Indeed, Parmelin linked the continuation of his action to what the competent economic committees of Parliament think of a cantonal initiative from the canton of Zurich on the same subject. This requires that the maximum number of authorized Sunday sales increase from 4 to 12 per year. The competent committee of the Council of States approved the initiative in October. We now know when its sister committee of the National Council will decide on this subject: January 20 or 21.

Approval is likely. The UDC and the PLR, which probably support the initiative as a whole, represent 12 of the 25 members of the Economy Commission of the National Council. With the supporters of the Center and the PVL, this should be enough to obtain a majority.

A decision from Parmelin on tourist areas should not take long, and we expect him to see his project through to the end. It remains to be seen to what extent it will take criticism into account and, for example, remove assortment restrictions or allow expansion to more cities. Since resistance against more liberal opening hours is high during the votes, a restrictive implementation should be favored.

Votes possible in the cantons

The project aims to remedy an inequality. In mountain tourist locations, shops can now already employ staff on Sundays during the season. On the other hand, this is not the case in cities, where the number of tourists is significantly higher.

Parmelin can change this on its own initiative. No referendum would be possible against the modification of the ordinance. However, opponents can put up resistance at the cantonal level. Federal labor law only regulates whether and when personnel can be employed. Cantonal shop closure laws determine whether shops can also open on Sundays. Only a few cantons, such as Aargau, have completely abolished them.

The law on store openings is expected to be amended in the canton of Zurich, which has shown the greatest interest in liberalization. An initiative in this direction was provisionally supported by the Grand Council more than three years ago. It would allow the creation of tourist zones. Since then, nothing has happened. The initiator and cantonal councilor Cristina Cortellini (Green Liberal Party) declared that the cantonal Parliament was waiting for the outcome of the federal Berne and that it would then see.

If the Grand Council supported liberalization, opponents could launch a referendum. This seems likely. A similar procedure should also be adopted in Bern or Basel. However, the cantonal government of Basel-City has already made it clear that it is not interested in liberalization. The city government of Bern does not want to hear about this idea either, as CH Media reported. A year ago, the canton of Lucerne did not yet want to take a position.

It is therefore quite possible that the step of liberalization long awaited by some will ultimately result in German-speaking Switzerland only by the opening of stores on Sundays in a few streets of Zurich. There it could be profitable, at least in terms of numbers: during the Sunday sale on December 8, 50,000 people visited Bahnhofstrasse alone.