PARIS — Home improvement retailers will be exempted from controversial Sunday trading laws until July 1, 2015, as part of a broader governmental review of the regulations. A 1906 law sets the day apart as a day of rest, but so many exceptions and caveats have accrued that the state is now prepared to overhaul the law completely.
DIY stores have been lobbying for the right to open on Sundays, with the matter coming to a head when a court ordered 15 Paris-area Castorama and Leroy Merlin stores to cease Sunday trading following a complaint by Bricorama. The government has emphasized that the measure is a stop-gap while the rules are being revised, and represent the exception to the rule, says Reuters.