At the beginning of July, a new law on shopping Sundays came into force in Croatia. Does this mean that shopping for a cruise will be more difficult now? Not necessarily - the regulations provide for many exceptions. So let's check what it looks like in practice and whether the idea of banning trading on Sundays has met with citizens' approval.
Shopping Sunday in Croatia - what do Croatians think about it?
As it turns out, the vast majority of Croatian citizens support the ban on Sunday trading. As HRT television reported in March this year, over 70% of respondents were in favor of establishing such a law. The most frequently given answer was: "Sunday is a day for family, not shopping." 26 percent citizens were against introducing a trade ban, and 3 percent respondents had no opinion on this matter.
As it turns out, the motives for such strong views were quite clear:
- most store employees are women - and the fact that they have to work on Sunday means that they are excluded from family life,
- wages in this industry are too low to require people to come to work on Sunday.
It is true that something has changed in this last issue: in January this year, a regulation came into force, according to which work on Sunday is paid 50% more than the basic wage for a given position. However, since the above-mentioned survey was carried out after the new law was established, it can be assumed that it did not significantly influence the views of Croatians on Sunday trading law.
Commercial and non-trading Sundays in Croatia
Do shopping-free Sundays in Croatia mean that you can't shop at all on these days? Not completely. The new regulations provide for several exceptions - on non-commercial Sundays, the following are to be open from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.:
- bakeries,
- small shops,
- kiosks,
- shops at gas stations,
- shops at public transport stations.
However, this is not the end - the new law provides that sellers will be able to choose 16 Sundays a year during which they will conduct their business normally. Moreover, although the regulations on non-trading Sundays entered into force at the beginning of July 2023, it will also be possible to designate 16 commercial Sundays this year. And since there are 27 of them left from July 1 to New Year's Eve, you can expect that this season you will be able to shop as usual.
