Sunday trading OK but no exceptions
France's constitutional court allows relaxed shopping law but overrules exception for Paris.
THE NEW law on Sunday trading has been given the green light – apart from a section which took away power from the Mayor of Paris.
France's constitutional guardians the conseil constititionnel said it found no reason why all other town mayors were allowed to propose areas to be classed as tourist zones (making them eligible for relaxed laws) except the mayor of Paris.
It has ruled the exception unconstitutional.
The government initially wanted its representative, the prefect, to draw up the tourist zone boundaries of the capital. Elsewhere the prefects just decide on whether or not to give the final go-ahead after requests are made by local mayors.
Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë had described the exception as a “real denial of democracy.”
The Socialist mayor had considered the proposal an attempt by the right-wing government to curtail his powers.
He praised the decision, affirming that he does not want to classify the whole city as a tourist zone, as President Sarkozy prefers, declaring himself opposed to a “big city of 24-hour-a-day seven-days-a-week consumption.”
He wants to maintain a mix of “very lively tourist areas and calmer areas.”
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Photo: ATOUT France - Jean-François Tripelon-Jarry
