In shops around the small airport in Zweibrücken in the western Palatinate, people can probably still shop on Sundays for a while during the holidays. The legal dispute about the Sunday rest and legal exceptions should go into another round. This became apparent on Wednesday before the Federal Court of Justice (BGH). However, the Rhineland-Palatinate government has also had the issue on its agenda for a long time. A sticking point is that there has been no commercial scheduled air traffic at the airport since 2014.
The dispute is about a special rule from 2007, which primarily affects a fashion outlet center near the airport. It allows the shops there to be open on Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. during the Easter, summer and autumn holidays.
The operator of a fashion house in the region filed an unfair competition lawsuit against a competitor who operates a branch in the center. At the beginning of August last year, however, he was defeated in the second instance before the Higher Regional Court of Zweibrücken. This referred to the still valid regulation.
However, the first civil senate at the BGH has now raised serious doubts about the decision. Among other things, the Higher Regional Court should have checked whether the ordinance is lawful at all, said the presiding judge Thomas Koch in Karlsruhe. Contrary to the assumption of the court, it is also relevant that commercial scheduled air traffic has been discontinued in the meantime. If the relevant circumstances change, regulations could become illegal, emphasized Koch.
The Higher Regional Court would have to clarify the issues raised. The BGH could overturn the judgment and refer it back to Zweibrücken. The Senate wanted to decide on this at a later date.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in Mainz is also examining the corresponding regulation. According to earlier information, in addition to the BGH decision, it wants to take into account the effects on jobs in the region and the planned expansion of the Zweibrücken Fashion Outlet Center. The topic has already occupied the state parliament.
Basically, there are high hurdles for Sunday shopping in Germany. Trade unions and churches in particular are critical of this. Again and again, courts overturn communal special paths.
The plaintiff’s lawyer before the BGH, Daniel Adloff, also argued with the legal protection of the public holiday. He even tried the Roman Emperor Constantine, who is said to have been the first to decree Sunday rest in 321. “This principle has endured. More than 1702 years. To this day,” he emphasized.
The Federal Constitutional Court upholds the protection of Sundays and public holidays, the lawyer explained. Exceptions should be narrowly defined. He argued that going shopping is something everyday – unlike visiting a beer garden with family, for example. The Zweibrücker airport is about 12 to 16 Sundays, which is no longer an exception. In addition, the rule only applies there. “There was an island created.”
For the other side, BGH lawyer Matthias Koch countered that the plaintiffs based in Grünstadt were far away from the outlet center – by car you drive a good 90 kilometers. “It seems strange that she feels addressed,” he said in reference to the plaintiff’s side. This has no disadvantages. He called the idea that it should actually always be closed on Sundays “simple”.(dpa)