MP drops plan to allow bakeries to open seven days a week

A proposed law that would have allowed bakeries (boulangeries) in France to open seven days a week has been scrapped by the bill’s sponsor.

French MP Jean-Marie Fiévet originally tabled the bill to the Assemblée nationale in February to remove what he called “outdated administrative hurdles” that prevented bakeries in many areas of France from opening every day.

The measure however proved unpopular, with groups representing the baking industry opposing it, arguing that it would favour bigger businesses which had the resources to remain open continuously.

 “A small business owner can't be open seven days a week. A larger company, on the other hand, can bring in extra staff to open every day,” Dominique Anract, president of the National Confederation of French Bakeries and Pastry Shops, told Ouest France. “This will gradually eat away at the customers of those who close one day a week.”

At present there is no national law in France preventing bakeries from opening every day but in many departments it is outlawed by the prefecture. Bakeries that break the rules can face hefty fines - in Normandy, for example, businesses are fined €1,500 and up to €15,000 for repeat offenses. 

In his proposed bill Mr Fiévet said that these closure orders which require bakeries to close for at least one day a week were “based on local professional agreements, most of which were concluded several decades ago.”

“They were signed in a France that is no longer the France of today; in a bygone economic, social, and commercial context that was unaware of the fierce competition that large retailers now impose on our artisans,” said Mr Fiévet.

The required closures were designed originally to “protect employees' weekly rest and prevent unfair competition” but had ultimately created a "two-tiered France" in which some departments allowed seven-day openings and others did not, he added.

Mr Fiévet claimed in his proposal that, as of December last year, 54 departments had closure rules for bakeries in place, although a survey by the Federation of Bakery Businesses puts the figure at around 40.

If passed, Mr Fiévet’s proposal would have resulted in a change to the labour code allowing bakeries to be excluded from the prefectural requirements for weekly closures.

It was due to be debated soon in the Assemblée nationale but on Tuesday (March 31) Mr Fiévet made the announcement he was withdrawing the bill.

Mr Fiévet, who is MP for Deux-Sèvres, said his decision was prompted by the “controversy that the bakery lobbies have managed to stir up,” Le Monde reported.