FBiH Government Moves to Amend Law: Allowing 16 Working Sundays per Year for Shops, Municipalities Can Choose Two More

(Patria) - After the Law on Internal Trade of FBiH, which bans Sunday work, came into effect on November 17, requests from municipalities and cities for exemptions from this decision prompted the FBiH Government to initiate amendments to the Law.

At the last session of the Economic-Social Council held on Tuesday, an idea was presented to provide for a certain number of working Sundays per year through these amendments, similar to Croatia, which has set 16 working Sundays per year.

Federal Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić said today that opinions on this initiative are divided, but that a draft of the law amendments has been prepared that will bring changes regarding non-working Sundays.

"I believe we have done a lot for those people and families who for years did not have the opportunity to gather on a non-working day, except perhaps on holidays, and that we should use all the positive experiences from the region. The relevant ministry has prepared a draft of the law amendments that provides for approximately 16 Sundays during the year when work will be allowed, plus local communities can determine an additional two Sundays that are important to them due to certain events. As an example, I will take the Sarajevo Film Festival, when the city is full, when there is a really large number of tourists, and shops should be given the opportunity to work those two weekends," said Nikšić.

Due to the non-working Sunday in FBiH, some shops have re-registered as drugstores to be able to work 24/7, while there has been an increased influx of customers at gas stations on Sundays, and analyses have shown that higher consumption has been recorded in the RS since the introduction of the non-working Sunday in the territory of the Federation of BiH.

Although the FBiH Ministry of Trade claimed that the non-working Sunday does not affect the economy in FBiH, this change in the law after only half a year since its implementation shows that this is not the case.