March 27, 2022 is a non-trading Sunday, but due to the wave of Ukrainians fleeing the war in the east of the country flowing into Poland in the province In the Podkarpackie and Lubelskie voivodeships, the opening of shops, especially along the routes used by refugees, “should be possible”.
– There is a general provision – both in the Criminal Law and in the Code of Petty Offenses, which says that no offense is committed, who acts to remove the immediate danger to a good protected by law, if the danger cannot otherwise be avoided, and the consecrated good does not represent a greater value than good saved – emphasized government spokesman Piotr Müller in his statement on Sunday 27.02.
As he added, “probably no one has any doubts that today the opening of the store on Sunday in the province. Lublin or Podkarpacie – in the event that some refugees, people who are moving from Ukraine, flee the war, that (…) opening a shop it is in this case (…) saving the greater good“.
In other parts of the country, non-trading Sunday means that most stores and shopping malls will be closed. Since Tuesday, February 1, the trade ban has been tightenedwhich means that this Sunday, for the first time in several months, also stores of large chains (Auchan, Biedronka or Lidl), which operated on the basis of post offices, will be closed. We will wait for trading Sunday until April 10, 2022.
Read more: Trading Sundays 2022 [KALENDARZ]
Non-trading Sunday – major changes from February 1, 2022
More and more retail chains have recently broken out of the ban (m. in. Auchan, Ladybird if Lidl) and had shops open also on non-trading Sundays as post offices.
According to the regulations, shops and shopping malls are closed on non-trading Sundays, and only places covered by the exception to the trade ban are open, i.e. gas stations or chain stores operating as post offices or the owner (e.g. Żabka chain stores).
The government of the United Right has tightened these rules even further, inter alia by introducing from February 1, 2022 the condition that In order for a store that also functions as a post office to be open on Sundays, it must have at least 40 percent revenues from postal activities. As a result, we are returning to the situation from the beginning of the Sunday trading ban when on non-trading Sundays, local stores and chains of small franchise stores (including Żabka) are open.
Some stores started trying to circumvent the trade ban in February. They are open, among others network facility Intermarche.
Read more: The Intermarche store is open, because there is a bus stop next to it, so it works “at the station”
How are the networks open from February 1, when the tight ban on Sunday trading enters?
What are the trade restrictions?
When shopping on Sunday, remember that Trade restrictions are in force throughout Poland in connection with the fourth wave of the coronavirus epidemic, also on Sundays. There is a sanitary regime when shopping – masks, keeping distance, hand disinfection and the limit of peoplethat may be in a given store.
Read more: Restrictions from December 1 [LISTA RESTRYKCJI]
Non-trading Sunday. How are Żabka stores open?
Żabka was the first to open its stores on Sunday using the status of a post office and will not close the stores of this chain despite the tightening of the trade ban on Sunday. This information was confirmed by Adam Manikowski, managing director of Żabka Polska, in an interview with Business Insider Polska.
– Taking into account the new law, which will enter into force on February 1, Żabka stores will be able to be available all the time and open to customers, because the legislator, which is very pleased to us, took care of the interests of small stores – Adam Manikowski, managing director of Żabka Polska, announced in an interview with the editor-in-chief of Business Insider Polska, Mikołaj Kunica. He added that it would ultimately be the entrepreneur’s decision.
Manikowski referred to this the exception that allows the store to be opened on the seventh day of the week, as long as the entrepreneur or franchisee is behind the counter. – This exclusion in the act is extremely important from the point of view of not only the customer, but also building the competitiveness of small shops – he said. The location and opening hours of stores can also be checked in the żappka application.
Trading ban – who can trade on non-trading Sundays?
The act on the Sunday trading ban provides for a catalog of 32 exemptions. The prohibition does not apply, among others in pastry shops, ice cream parlors, liquid fuel stations, flower shops, newspaper shops, cafes (but these activities must be dominant).
There is a penalty for breaking the Sunday trading ban in the amount of 1 thousand. PLN up to 100 thousand. PLN, and in the case of persistent violation of the Act – the penalty of restriction of liberty.
This article was first published on Fakt’s website on March 25, 2022.
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