After having been debated in the French parliament for a total of more than 500 hours over seven months, the 'Macron Law' ('loi Macron'), which grants supermarkets in France additional scope to open on Sundays, has been finally passed into law, Le Monde reports.
The new law, signed yesterday (9 July) by Manuel Carlos Valls Galfett, France’s prime minister, will grant supermarkets and hypermarkets the right to open on nine Sundays instead of five during 2015, and then 12 Sundays instead of five from 2016 onwards.
Additional powers for grocers to open in main tourist areas on Sundays will also be granted. In these cases, staff at stores which have a surface area of 400 square metres or more must be paid 30 per cent more than they would normally earn for their work.
Furthermore, l'Autorité de la Concurrence, the French competition authority, has been given certain powers and responsibilities to “simulate competition in retail,” such as blocking stores raising prices to unfair levels in catchment areas. Consumers themselves will be able to report such scenarios.
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