Following demands by businesses and cantons to radically expand Sunday shopping, lawmakers are now expected to have their say on the proposals. Here’s what you need to know about the changes, whether they are likely to be approved and when and where they are going to be enforced.

Sunday shopping in Switzerland remains rare

Unless you live in a ski resort, Sunday shopping remains a rarity in Switzerland. In principle, Swiss labour law bans most workers from clocking in on Sundays, and those who do are subject to rigorous approval procedures and rules, and receive generous benefits through overtime.

Only shops at train stations, airports and ski resorts, and bakeries, kiosks and petrol stations, are able to open on Sundays. In addition, Swiss cantons can allow shopping on up to four Sundays a year, typically in the lead-up to holidays like Christmas and National Day.

However, the rules around the practice are likely to change in the coming year:

How is Sunday shopping going to be expanded?

The Swiss government is expected to try and liberalise Sunday shopping in two ways. In the first case, the Federal Council wants to grant Swiss cities the right to define “tourism zones” in their borders, where stores would be able to open on Sundays permanently. 

This would only apply to cities with a population of over 60.000, where 50 percent of overnight stays are made by those from outside Switzerland - this means Zurich, Geneva, Lucerne, Basel, Lausanne, Bern and Lugano. The thinking goes that it is unfair that ski resorts are able to open their stores and boutiques on Sundays, while cities - which cater to more tourists - have to keep them closed. 

Second is the proposal submitted by Canton Zurich, which would look to increase the number of shopping Sundays permitted annually. Under the plans, this would increase from four to 12 Sundays per year.

When will more Sundays be added to the shopping calendars?

The Economics Committee of the National Council have confirmed that they will be voting on the 12 Sunday shopping proposal around January 20, with the Federal Council’s plan decided sometime later. With the proposals receiving support from a majority of members of the committee, they are likely to pass.

Along with providing convenience for both tourists and residents, supporters have highlighted the benefits of Sunday shopping for local businesses. On the most recent Sunday shopping day on December 8, an estimated 50.000 people were shopping on Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich alone.

Where will shops open on Sundays following the changes?

However, both proposals leave it up to Swiss cantons to decide which rules to change, meaning it remains unclear which regions will expand Sunday shopping. As the main driver behind the reform, Canton Zurich is the only region which has expressed interest so far.

When asked by Watson, both Bern and Basel said that they had no interest in liberalising Sunday shopping, while officials in Lucerne did not wish to comment. Finally, while it may be approved at the federal level, the proposals will also require changes to cantonal law, which invites the prospect of a referendum.

Expanded Sunday shopping in Switzerland likely to face referendum

Indeed, a referendum against expanded Sunday shopping seems likely, given that a collection of left-leaning parties and trade unions have already announced their opposition to the changes. Speaking back in October, Unia spokesperson Anne Rubun told 20 Minuten that 90 percent of their members were against more Sunday shopping.

"People work six days a week and often for 12 to 14 hours a day…Private life suffers enough as it is,” she argued, adding that only larger companies would benefit from the rule change as they are the only ones who can afford to employ workers for an extra day.

"They are sacrificing their family life so that we can get a six-pack of beer on Sunday," Social Democratic co-president Cédric Wermuth told the newspaper. 

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