Will stores in Montenegro reopen on Sundays?

For six years now, shops in Montenegro have not been open on Sundays. Whether this will change, and whether the law adopted in 2019 is constitutional or not, should be decided by the country's highest court, which three months ago raised the issue of the constitutionality of the ban on traders from working on Sundays. If the Government and Parliament do not soon find another model of functioning, judging by the practices of neighboring countries, it is very likely that the Constitutional Court will rule that the current amendments to the Trade Law are unconstitutional, which would mean that shops could soon be open all 365 days a year again.

Three months after the Constitutional Court initiated proceedings to review the constitutionality of the ban on Sunday opening hours in stores, there is no signal from the Government and Parliament that they could resolve the issue in a different way.

The government referred Television Vijesti to the relevant ministry, whose head claims that they have not received a decision from the Constitutional Court to initiate proceedings.

"The Ministry of Economic Development has not officially received a request for a statement from the Constitutional Court on this matter. All information we have regarding the proceedings in question is based on media reports. When and if the Ministry receives the court's request, it will issue a statement on it in accordance with its jurisdiction," said Minister of Economic Development Nik Đeljošaj.

At the end of May, the Constitutional Court, analyzing the allegations from the initiative of the Employers' Union, unanimously determined that the question of the constitutionality of the ban on retailers working on Sundays is well-founded. More precisely, the question is open whether the constitutional principle of equality of all before the law, restrictions on human rights, freedom of entrepreneurship and the compatibility of legal regulations have been violated.

"By prescribing an exception to the general rule prohibiting wholesale and retail trade on Sundays and on public and other holidays, for entities to which the measure prohibiting work on Sundays does not apply (pharmacies, specialized stores or kiosks selling bread, bakery products and cakes, etc.), the question of a violation of the constitutional principle of equality within a group of entrepreneurs in the market is well-founded," the Constitutional Court's decision states.

If the Parliament and the Government do not react soon, it will mean that the Constitutional Court will continue the proceedings and will very likely rule on the unconstitutionality of the Sunday off for retailers. In that case, stores would be open 365 days a year, unless the Constitutional Court gives them a deadline to regulate this issue differently. While on the one hand many employers, and some employees, would be relieved by this, there are those who claim that they would lose their guaranteed day off every Sunday.

Shops, six years after being closed on Sundays, seem to be especially missed by tourists during the season, when the only alternatives are markets, gas stations, and kiosks.

"The disputed legal measure prohibiting wholesale and retail trade on Sundays and on public and other holidays, in the opinion of the Constitutional Court, undoubtedly represents a form of restriction of the entrepreneurial freedom of traders, and the question of compliance with the provision of the Constitution which explicitly prescribes cases in which, exceptionally, the freedom of entrepreneurship may be restricted is raised," the Constitutional Court's decision states.

Đeljošaj has repeatedly said that everyone who wants to work should be allowed to work on Sundays. Last year, they were close to a solution, so that trade could be carried out on Sundays from June 1 to August 31 and from December 1 to January 31, but in such a way that only one store within the retail chain would operate in one municipality, and only in one shift, with increased daily wages for workers, who would get an additional day off the following week. However, the parliamentary groups did not give the green light.

In neighboring Croatia, the decision to ban Sunday work has already been made several times by the Constitutional Court. In 2023, the Croatian government passed a law allowing retailers 16 working Sundays per year, which they most often use during the season.