Paris to review Sunday Rest Laws over fears it is losing out to London

France is to review laws allowing Paris to relax Sunday opening rules - laws that critics say are losing the capital thousands of jobs and tourist shoppers to London.

Shuttered shops on the Rue Saint Martre, Paris, on a Sunday afternoon Photo: ALAMY

By Henry Samuel, Paris

The Socialist government launched the review of the current regulations a day after 14 DIY stores opened in defiance of a ban issued by a French court last week – despite the threat of a 120,000-euro (£100,000) fine per day and per store.

Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, Right-wing candidate for mayor of Paris and a minister in the previous conservative government, said the Socialists' "dogmatism" over the issue was sending tourists across the Channel in droves.

"We have a huge problem of tourists who leave for London to buy (goods)," she told RTL radio.

"They leave on Saturday to do their shopping on Sunday in London. More and more are doing so. It's the tour operators who organise it.

The restrictive interpretation of current laws was costing the French capital 10,000 jobs, she claimed.

"All it would take would be a simple signature from the mayor (to allow stores to remain open on Sunday)."

France has strict rules on retailers' opening hours, based on a tradition of "le repos dominical" – protecting Sunday as a "day of rest" for workers – enshrined in law in 1906.

Since 2009, there are some exemptions in major cities for outlets located in "exceptional consumer usage zones", as well as in tourist areas in cities with a population of over one million. There are seven such zones in Paris, including the Champs Elysées, parts of the rue de Rivoli and Montmartre.

But this still leaves many shops shut – including major department stores like Galeries Lafayette and BHV – for all but a handful of Sundays per year, and those that do open can only do so on the strict condition that they do not to force any of their employees to work on the "day of rest".

Jean-Marc Ayrault, the prime minister, has now responded to the growing row by announcing a review of the current laws.

He tasked Jean-Paul Bailly, former head of the French mail service, to look at the "weaknesses of the current system, clarify the issues around the opening of some shops on Sundays and make a list of proposals to the government."

Mr Bailly will hand in his conclusions by the end of November.

Michel Sapin, the labour minister, insisted that there would be no major relaxing of rules.

"We have a rule – the principle of Sunday rest, and it is out of the question that this rule should be touched," he said.

Marisol Touraine, the health minister, however conceded: "There are workers who want to work on Sundays, and people who want to do their shopping on Sundays."

Hit by a sluggish economy and record unemployment rates, critics are calling for more relaxed rules and general labour flexibility to create jobs and compete on a global level.

France has seen a spate of recent court orders – often following union complaints – of multinational retailers, such as Apple, to limit their opening hours, despite the desire of many employees to work more for extra pay.

Last week, a court ordered Sephora, the cosmetics giant, to close its flagship Paris store on the Champs Elysées, at 9pm. Until then, it had remained open until midnight on weekdays and up to 1am on Fridays and Saturdays to cater for late-night weekend shoppers, many of them foreign tourists.

There have been a string of other court orders against Apple, Galeries Lafayette, Japanese casual wear designer Uniqlo and supermarket chain Monoprix.

Some were sceptical about the government's latest move.

Gérald Fillon, spokesman of the workers' group "Bricoleurs du dimanche" (Sunday handymen) said: "We were expecting a bit more than yet another review. We must absolutely find a (way of) opening."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/10344868/Paris-to-review-Sunday-opening-rules-over-fears-it-is-losing-out-to-London.html