Shops become kiosks to operate on Sundays: New examples of abuse of the Internal Trade Act

During this summer season, the number of small retailers opening their stores on Sundays and holidays has increased, thus violating Article 35b of the Internal Trade Act. Fines do not stop them because their amount remains the same regardless of the repetition of the violation. In practice, there are cases where stores are re-registered as kiosks in order to operate on Sundays, this was reported to "Vijesti" by the Market Inspectorate, but also by the employers' organizations of retailers, who are asking decision-makers to reconsider this legal solution because this makes the idea of ​​a day off for workers meaningless.

During the period from the beginning of the year to July 30, during continuous inspection supervision over the implementation of Article 35b of the Law on Internal Trade, the Market Inspection Directorate identified 161 irregularities, namely work on Sundays and public and other holidays, on the basis of which it issued 244 misdemeanor orders and imposed fines worth 123.400 euros.

"A request has been submitted to initiate a misdemeanor proceeding. Business entities, or business premises, where non-compliance with the provisions of Article 35b of the Law on Internal Trade has been established, have been closed for a period of time during which work is not permitted, in accordance with the law. The Law on Internal Trade, for non-compliance with the work ban, prescribes fines of 1.000 euros for a legal entity, 200 euros for a responsible person in a legal entity, 300 euros for an entrepreneur and 200 euros for a natural person. The amount of the fine remains the same regardless of the number of violations established by the same trader," the Market Inspection told "Vijesti".

The Chamber of Commerce's Trade Committee pointed out ten days ago that there are increasingly pronounced abuses of legal exceptions that allow certain commercial facilities to operate on Sundays, public and other holidays, thus violating market equality and requiring an urgent response from the competent institutions.

Those legal exceptions for shops that can operate on Sundays are kiosks/traffic stands and shops at gas stations, however, most abuses occur through the use of imprecise legal provisions on what a kiosk is, how big it can be, and what it can sell.

The Trade Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Montenegro states that some traders, through re-registration of facilities, changes in their organization or other creative interpretations of legal provisions, are taking advantage of the opportunity to work on Sundays, while those who comply with the regulations are operating in a less favorable position, which is why they have called for more decisive institutional action.

The Market Inspection told "Vijesti" that in the period from the beginning of the year to the end of July, they recorded a slight increase in business entities violating the provisions of Article 35b of the Law on Internal Trade, taking the comparative period for 2025.

"During the summer tourist season, attempts were observed by individual traders to re-register their facilities as souvenir shops, kiosks or newsagents in order to avoid the application of the law. The Market Inspection Directorate, or rather market inspectors, consistently apply the Law on Internal Trade, as well as the Law on Misdemeanors, and in relation to the amount of the fine. Therefore, the amount of the fine does not change regardless of the frequency of the misdemeanor. Market inspectors continuously supervise economic entities that repeat the misdemeanor. In accordance with the competences of the Market Inspection Directorate, as well as the recommendations of the Coordination Body for Harmonization and Monitoring of Inspection Supervision, intensified controls over the application of Article 35b of the Law on Internal Trade are carried out daily, with a special emphasis on coastal municipalities, in order to ensure consistent application of the law and equal business conditions for all market participants," the Market Inspection told "Vijesti".

At the meeting of the trade committee, the chief market inspector Marina Radulović She said that they continuously conduct inspections and close down facilities that operate contrary to regulations, but that the existing penalty policy is not deterrent enough, which is why violators often repeat themselves.

Traders pointed out that the ban on work, which is imposed on violators in these cases, most often applies only to the day the violation was detected, that the fines are low, and that it is necessary to change penalty policies in order to more effectively sanction violations and prevent abuses that distort market competition, especially among those who repeat violations.

The Committee concluded that an initiative should be prepared to improve this legislative framework, i.e. to more precisely define legal exceptions, improve penal policy and strengthen coordination of competent inspection bodies, in order to prevent abuse, ensure equal business conditions and consistent application of regulations.

The Employers' Union announced earlier this week that 118 retail stores had been closed in 30 days due to Sunday operations, and that this showed how bad the law on the ban on trade was, and again called for its repeal to be reconsidered.

They recalled that the Constitutional Court annulled this article of the 2019 law, and that the Parliament then re-adopted the article with almost the same text. Employers and unions had reached a compromise solution - that during the season, one store of a retail chain in one municipality could operate in one shift on Sundays, with a daily wage increased by 80 percent and a mandatory day off the following weekend, but the Parliament did not accept such a solution.

Primorje is supervised by 16 inspectors

Violations of the Sunday work ban most often occur on the coast during this season.

"The Directorate for Market Inspection employs 40 inspectors. Currently, during the summer tourist season on the coast, we have 16 inspectors who are in the field every day, while a smaller number of inspectors are located in the territory of the municipality of Podgorica. Also, in order to control compliance with the ban on work on Sundays and on public and other holidays, as well as to cover the terrain, the number of inspectors engaged in coastal municipalities is increasing," the inspection stated.

The competence of this inspection includes control of the regularity of internal trade and services, product safety, efficient use of energy, protection of economic interests of consumers, protection of intellectual property rights,...

"Trafike" an exception due to newspapers, and now a source of abuse

When this article of the law was first discussed by the parliamentary committee on economy in 2019, one of the questions asked by the deputies was why kiosks and newsstands were defined as exceptions that could operate on Sundays.

The response of the representative of the Ministry of Economy as the proposer was that the Constitution guarantees citizens' right to information and that there must be someone who will sell newspapers on Sundays, and that they therefore decided that newsstands and kiosks would be an exception.

However, in practice, it has happened that newsstands are becoming larger and with an ever-increasing range of products for sale, and that some of them do not offer newspapers at all, which indicates abuses of this exception.