The ban on trade on Sunday is coming in big steps. It's only been a few weeks. Large commercial networks have long been looking for a way to bypass the new barrier and save at least some of the money. Ingenuity on this issue knows no boundaries, but all, even the best legal loopholes to circumvent the Sunday ban have one The primary disadvantage - the uncertainty of the result.
one of the first The idea to outsmart the bill was to transform supermarkets into bakeries. Much of the retail chain offers bread, which is produced on site. That way you could get the privilege of letting bakers trade seven days per week. However, the question arises as to whether the share of bread in the turnover of the store justifies it being included in this category of statutory exceptions.
Sunday that doesn't end at midnight
Another ingenious initiative is to respect the ban, but to treat Sunday rest very literally. A slight change in the opening hours of the trading point could make weekend shopping much easier for customers. The store could be open on Saturday e.g. to 23:45, and the reopening would take place little more than one Monday a few minutes after midnight.
The trick with the supermarket's night hours seems brilliant in its simplicity, but for a lawyer who would like to write an opinion on this matter, the matter is a bit complicated.
The most important principle of determining the importance of legislation is that first the literal wording of the provision must be examined. From this point of view, everything is clear. Monday at an hour 0:15 It's not Sunday, and that's why a violation of the law can't be accused of being opened at this hour.
In addition to the literal content of the Act, the purpose of its adoption should be taken into account. The term ‘functional interpretation’ is used in the legal language. From this perspective, the most important objective of the Act is to guarantee free Sundays for workers and therefore it is not possible to set the opening hours of shops in such a way that they would be forced to leave for work on Sunday evening. All we can do is dispute how the courts would go to this law-law thing.
Shopping in a stationary store via the internet
The ban on trade on Sunday does not include online purchases. This exception allows even more ingenuity than embezzlement with opening hours just after midnight.
Some chains of clothing stores are considering the possibility of transforming trade in this industry into... an artistic exhibition. The rule seems simple. The living room with clothes becomes a place where you can admire the latest trends of world fashion. However, guests of such “exhibitions” could try whatever they wanted.
Buying would also not be an impenetrable barrier, as you could make on-site payments using a telephone with the right software. The cash transfer would be done via the Internet. Shop employees wouldn't be employed in trade. They would act as "consuls".
The concept seems so ingenious that it is brilliant, but there is the same question as in the case of the abovementioned initiatives: there is no guarantee that such a design would not be treated as a circumvention. In practice, it could either succeed or end up with a multi-thousand financial penalty.
The biggest flaw is that courts recognizing such mysteries would be pioneers. They could not be based on decisions of other compositions ruling on similar cases. It would be necessary to apply so-called legal applications, i.e. universal rules for the interpretation of the law.
Gas stations and shops at stations as supermarkets
Ingenious legal tricks can be “accepted” by the jurisprudence of the courts as lawful, but any bill can be amended. The government side suggests that attempts to circumvent the ban on trade on Sunday will meet with a reaction from the Sejm.
Assuming, for example, that the concept of converting a supermarket into bakeries would prove effective, the success of the entrepreneur could be short-lived. The parliament can then clarify that behind the bakery is only a store where the sale of bread generates at least 50% revenue from sales.
The possibility of constantly amending the bill gives the legislator a great deal of room for manoeuvre, but some trading points cannot be excluded. first on the shore of exceptions that will not be covered by the ban, there are shops at the stations and gas stations.
If such facilities become the only shops in the area, the number of customers will increase. This in turn will certainly affect the adaptation of the commercial offer to the new realities.
The purchase of dairy or vegetables at petrol stations today may seem to be a ‘absorbent moratorium’, but it cannot be excluded that in a few months the retail market will start to move in this direction. Economic rights are similar to natural laws.