A joint statement from three print media outlets, "Pobjeda", "Dana" and "Vijesti", warns that the announced provision that newsstands will in future be able to operate in only one shift on Sundays will make it impossible to sell daily newspapers.
Yesterday, the Social Council proposed amendments to the Law on Internal Trade, which, among other things, stipulate that newsstands selling daily newspapers can only operate in one shift on Sundays.
The largest newsstand chains and the sole distributor have informed daily newspaper publishers that they will not operate on Sundays at all if this proposal is adopted.
"The aforementioned text stipulates, among other things, that retail trade can be carried out on Sundays and public holidays in specialized shops or kiosks for selling newspapers, but only in one shift. A provision formulated in this way will, without a doubt, lead to the fact that the sale of daily newspapers will not be possible on Sundays, which is absurd in a democratic society. This is because daily newspapers are sold on weekdays, and exclusively on Sundays, in specialized shops or kiosks, which have already announced to us that, due to all the labor costs, it is not worth it for them to operate in one shift on Sundays. This is especially important if we take into account the fact that the leading kiosk chain in our country is our only newspaper distributor. This would mean that newspapers would not be able to be distributed on Sundays," the joint statement of the print media states.
They state that they raised the same objection with the Ministry of Economy in 2019, which then accepted their arguments and did not limit single-shift work at these facilities.
"For the past few years, numerous regulations have been passed that make the work of print media more difficult. We believe that any restriction on sales represents an attack on democracy and freedom of the press. We ask decision-makers to react immediately and delete the controversial provision for single-shift work on Sundays and work during public holidays for specialized facilities," the statement said.
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