MPs back Sunday opening changes

STORES around France will be allowed to open on 12 Sundays a year, and those in certain tourist areas could offer Sunday and late-night trading all year round, after MPs voted to relax the current rules.

The measures, part of the wide-ranging Loi Macron currently going through parliament, will create "international tourist zones" in parts of Paris, Nice, Cannes and Deauville - where shops can open every Sunday and stay open until midnight on other days of the week.

The affected areas in Paris are the Boulevard Haussmann (home to the big department stores Printemps and Galeries Lafayette), Avenue Montaigne (fashion), Place Vendôme (jewellery) and parts of the Boulevard Saint-Germain.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo had wanted the city council to have its own say on which areas would be included, and accused the government of treading on the local authority's powers.

Elsewhere in France, the 12 Sundays a year rule replaces the current limit of five. Shop owners will be free to chose their own dates, but the decision must be made in consultation with staff, who cannot be forced to work Sundays and must be paid extra.

In the tourist zones of Paris and the three seaside resorts, work done between 21.00 and midnight must be paid at double the normal rate.