Shops allowed to remain open until 9 pm every day
The federal government will relax the opening hours of shops in Belgium, which will be allowed to remain open an hour longer, until 9 pm every day. Initially, the plan was that they would be allowed to remain open until 10 pm, but according to De Morgen some coalition partners felt that this was going too far.
Clothing shops, electrical goods stores and supermarkets in Belgium are currently subject to fairly strict rules. They must have at least one fixed closing day each week. On other days, they are not allowed to open between 8 pm and 5 am, except on Fridays, when they can stay open until 9 pm.
This is about to change. The De Wever government had already decided to relax the rules and give retailers more freedom. Now the details have been worked out, according to De Morgen. The mandatory closing day will be abolished and every retailer will be allowed to stay open until 9 pm every day. Those who want to close earlier can of course still do so.
The rules are expected to be definitively approved by the Council of Ministers on Friday, according to the office of the responsible minister, Eléonore Simonet. The changes are being made because, according to the government, the law on opening hours no longer meets customer expectations. Today's customers expect much more flexibility. Newsagents were already allowed to be open 24 hours a day and that exception will remain in place.
Criticism
Until last week, the intention was even to extend opening hours to 10 pm. However, some coalition partners felt that this was going too far. They fear that small independent retailers will feel obliged to stay open longer in order to compete with larger chains.
Opposition members of the liberal party Open VLD are critical: they find it incomprehensible that businesses are not being given even more freedom. But the High Council for the Self-Employed and SMEs is also not in favour of longer opening hours. The advisory body fears for the private lives of small self-employed people who have difficulty finding staff and will therefore have to work longer hours themselves.
Shopping street Rue Neuve in Brussels © BELGA PHOTO BELGIAN_FREELANCE
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