Montenegrin Employers Federation is going to undertake an initiative for questioning the Law on Internal Trade and refer it to the Constitutional Court. This Law stipulates Sunday off for retail and wholesale trade. Social issues and dialogue adviser within the MEF, Mr Filip Lazović, says that the amendments to this Law violate the corpus of economic rights.
“We believe that this Law is going to be the subject of questioning its constitutionality. In Croatia, such law has been repealed three times, and it’s probably going to happen in Montenegro, too, for the same reasons. It’s a real possibility”, said Mr Lazović.
The adoption process wasn’t correct as the economy hasn’t been consulted.
“We find amendments disputable. Montenegrin economy consists of 95% of small and medium enterprises. We can see in the future negative effects that this Law might provoke, especially since tourism is our main strategic economic branch. Therefore, can we really afford to deprive our economy of huge turnover that one Sunday can bring?”, said Mr Lazović.
The provision stipulating Sunday off will come into force three months after the Law comes into force, in autumn, to be precise.
Judging by the comments of the governing coalition and part of the opposition, amendments to the Law are expected to be adopted. The draft law defines that trade chains, apart from the exceptions defined, will have Sunday as a day off.
Amendments to the Law defines that the employers who open their stores on Sunday shall be fined from €1.000 to €10.000 and their facility might be closed.
Sunday off will not boost employment
Representatives of MEF point out that Sunday off won’t boost employment in the state.
“And as for the dismissals, it’s hard to predict. But Sunday off definitely won’t boost employment. Also, we really have to bear in mind that we are going to have serious losses”, said Mr Lazović.
