The Generalitat must extend business hours and modify some articles of the Catalan Law of Commerce, Services and Fires to adapt it to state regulations. This is what is dictated by a ruling of the Constitutional Court (TC) made public this week and whose consequences were analyzed yesterday by the Department of Business and Employment.
The ruling responds to an appeal of unconstitutionality presented by the central government under the mandate of the PP. The TC agrees partially with the then Executive of Mariano Rajoy and annuls certain points of the Catalan law. Specifically, it removes the article referring to the maximum number of hours per week that a shop can open.
Catalan law establishes a limit of 75 hours of opening per week, while state regulations raise this limit to 90 hours. The Generalitat reduced business hours in its day with the argument of protecting small businesses, with less capacity to compete with large chains in this regard. Now you will have to modify it and stores in Catalonia will be able to open up to 90 hours a week if they wish. However, Empresa minimizes the impact of this change. "The vast majority of businesses do not use up this time slot, the impact on the Catalan commercial landscape will be less," they commented.
The sentence also affects the commercial offer of tourist municipalities, with exceptions that allow them to extend their hours and adapt them to the demand of visitors. The Catalan law indicated that the category of tourist municipality was granted by the Government for a period of four years, since this condition could not be indefinite. The annulment of this precept by the Constitution means that, although the Catalan Executive maintains the power to approve obtaining the category, the municipalities that receive it will not need to request extensions to maintain it. Unless, they underline from the Business department, that the inclusion conditions be modified.
It is not the only point that is annulled by the ruling. The ruling again lifts restrictions introduced by the Catalan law on the state. The Generalitat gave greater time freedom for food stores of up to 150 square meters whose owners are self-employed or small businesses. These establishments enjoy fewer limitations on business hours and now, after the ruling of the TC, the exception is extended and includes all types of stores up to 300 meters. Now, this article of the Trade Law had already been suspended since 2017 and therefore was not being applied. "However, the idea of the Government is to incorporate explicit references to these issues into Catalan law," they say from Empresa.
On the other hand, the TC maintains in force the articles referring to the consumer's right to be served in Catalan and the related sanctioning regime. In addition, respect the recommendation on sales periods. The Ministry yesterday regretted the Court's decision and denounced "invasion of powers" by the State. The Constitutional considers the opposite, that it is the Generalitat that has exceeded its limits when legislating.
