Shops in Belgium may stay open till 21 h every day, and the mandatory 24-hour weekly closing will be scrapped. The goal is to decrease the advantage of online sellers.
Except on Fridays, shops must close by 20 h and they are required to shut for 24 hours once a week. Online shops, by contrast, are accessible at any time, which gives them a significant competitive advantage.
Even now, not all shops make use of the option to stay open until 20 h. Nothing will change for them; they can still close at 18 h. But for retailers who feel at a competitive disadvantage compared to online shops and foreign competitors, we are removing the obstacle.
Eléonore Simonet, minister for Small Businesses, Self-Employed and SMEs
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