Parmelin investigates shopping Sundays in cities

Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin (63) is investigating whether shopping in cities should also be possible on Sundays. “The social partners are currently being explored,” said the Federal Public Service Economy, Education and Research (EAER) on Friday at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. It thus confirmed a report by the Handelszeitung of the same day.

Further information could not be obtained from Federal Councilman Guy Parmelin’s department. “At such a stage, the head of the WBF does not comment on the subject,” it said. The State Secretariat of Economic Affairs Seco also did not provide any further information.

The Bundesrat as a whole has legal leeway when it comes to exceptions to the ban on Sunday work. He can approve them “if Sunday work is indispensable for technical or economic reasons”.

Same rules as in the mountain cantons

In January 2022, three cantons went on the offensive demanding “tourist zones”, as in most mountain cantons. Shops there should also be able to open on Sundays.

«In St. Moritz you can also buy your ski equipment on Sundays. But if you have forgotten your swimming trunks in Zurich, you will find yourself in front of closed doors,” Carmen Walker Späh, economic director of the canton of Zurich, told the media at the time. Further exceptions to the ban on Sunday work are therefore necessary. “The Federal Council would can give tourism this boost,” claims Walker Späh.

Whether that will happen is an open question. In general, the opening hours of shops are regulated per canton. The ban on Sunday work, on the other hand, is enshrined in the federal Labor in Industry, Commerce and Commerce Act. Exceptions apply to various points of sale – especially in mountain areas, in train stations or at petrol stations.

(SDA/brother)

Source:Blick