Retailers unhappy about Polish trading law

By: trademagazin Date: 2008. 05. 06. 00:00

The Act imposing tight limitations on large-area retail spaces with a surface area exceeding 400 square metres.

IKEA has held back an overwhelming
majority of its investments in Poland due to the negative
implications of the Act on Establishment and Operation of Large-Area
Commercial Buildings of 11 May 2007.

According to media Puls Biznesu,
Poland may have already lost billions of euros due to the fact that
the chains such as Carrefour or Tesco have cancelled hundreds of
investment projects in Poland because of the Act.

The Law and Justice government last
year argued that the law was needed to protect small indigenous
retail outlets from what they saw as the unfair competition of
foreign retailers. The Kaczynski government also imposed limits to
when retailers in general could open for business, banning trade on
12 national holidays.