Podgorica, (MINA-BUSINESS) - The Employers’ Federation (UPCG) has submitted an initiative to the Constitutional Court to assess the constitutionality of Article 35b of the Law on Internal Trade – the provision that reintroduces a ban on Sunday work in retail.

“The initiative stems from the repeatedly expressed belief that the legislator, as in 2019, has violated the highest legal act. This time, however, the decision of the Constitutional Court, which clearly determined that such a regulation banning Sunday work in retail is unconstitutional, has also been disregarded,” the UOCG said in a press release.

UPCG stated that, in addition to discrimination and restrictions on entrepreneurial freedom without a clearly defined and proven legitimate aim, the legislator also ignored the Social Council and social dialogue as a constitutionally established mechanism for expressing the interests of employees, employers, and the state (Article 65).

“Given that the Constitutional Court’s position on this issue has already been clearly expressed, and that Article 35b essentially does not differ from Article 35a, whose unconstitutionality the Court established in its decision from January this year, we expect that this time the decision will be made within a significantly shorter timeframe,” the Federation said.

UPCG believes that this would be particularly important for establishing a balanced and fair solution to the issue of non-working Sundays through social dialogue.