Sunday Trading Act 1994

Buying and selling on Sunday had been banned in the UK by the Shops Act (1950), but after the accession of the U.K to the European Economic Community, the ban may have been in breach of Article 30 of the Treaty of Rome as amounting to an unlawful restraint on the free movement of goods.

Following the defeat of a bill to enable widespread Sunday trading in April 1986, compromise legislation was introduced in July 1994 in England and Wales, coming into force on 28 August 1994, allowing shops to open, but restricting larger stores i.e. over 280 m² (3,014 ft²) to a maximum of six hours. Shops in Scotland, where Sunday trading was already fully deregulated, retained the right to open at any time.

The Sunday Trading Bill had met with considerable opposition from the Lord's Day Observance Society and other Christian and trades union groups such as the Keep Sunday Special Campaign.

See also