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Consitutional Standards, Working Time and Pharmacy Opening Hours: The FCC's Message to Managers and Law Makers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Extract

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The First Senate of the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court), in its decision from 16 January 2002, found one section of Germany's heavily debated Ladenschlussgesetz (LadschlG – Shop Closing Act) to be unconstitutional.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

(1) BVerfG, 1 BvR 1236/99, 16 January 2002, http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de (visited on 28 February 2002). The Shop Closing Act was adopted on 28 November 1956 [see Bundesgesetzblatt – German Official Bulletin BGBl I 1956, p. 875], last amended on 29 October 2001 [BGBl I 2785], the statute is available, in German language, at: http://jurcom5.juris.de/bundesrecht/ladschlg/index.html.Google Scholar

(2) To make matters more confusing, the regulations are inter-mixed with state and local laws concerned with a range of specifics over which the Bundestag (federal legislature) has deferred competence to the Länder (Federal States) and Gemeinde (municipalities).Google Scholar

(3) LadschlG § 3.1(1-5).Google Scholar

(4) Shops that sell baked goods may open at 5:30 a.m. LadschlG § 3.1 Sentence 2.Google Scholar

(5) Supra, note 1, Para. 12, citing BVerfGE 13, 237 (240); BVerfGE 1, 283 (297).Google Scholar

(6) Pursuant to Article 93.1 (4a) of the Grundgesetz (German Basic Law), any person may lodge a constitutional complaint with the Constitutional Court “alleging that one of his basic rights … has been infringed by public authority.” See, also, Article 90 of the Bundesverfassungsgerichtsgesetz (BVerfGG – Federal Constitutional Court Act).Google Scholar

(7) Article 12.1 of the Basic Law reads: “All Germans shall have the right to freely choose their occupation or profession, their place of work, and their place of training. The practice of an occupation or profession may be regulated by or pursuant to a law.”Google Scholar

(8) Article 3.1 of the Basic Law reads: “All persons shall be equal before the law.”Google Scholar

(9) LadschlG § 14.1 Sentence 1.Google Scholar

(10) LadschlG § 14.1 Sentence 2.Google Scholar

(11) LadschlG § 14.1 Sentence 3.Google Scholar

(12) LadschlG § 14.2 Sentence 1.Google Scholar

(13) LadschlG § 14.2 Sentences 2 and 3.Google Scholar

(14) LadschlG § 14.4.Google Scholar

(15) LadschlG § 4.1 Sentence 1.Google Scholar

(16) LadschlG § 4.1 Sentence 2.Google Scholar

(17) LadschlG § 4.2 Sentences 1 and 2.Google Scholar

(18) Landesberufungsgerichts für Apotheker, LBG 2/99, 26 April 1999; Bezirksberufungsgerichts für Apotheker, BBG 3/98, 7 October 1998.Google Scholar

(19) Supra, note 1, Para. 34 (translation by the author), citing BVerfGE 19, 330 (336); BVerfGE 54, 301 (313); BVerfGE 101, 331 (347). See also, The Constitutional Court's “Traditional Slaughter” Decision: The Muslims’ Freedom of Faith and Germany's Freedom of Conscience, 3 GERMAN LAW JOURNAL 2, Paras 14-16 (February 2002), http://www.germanlawjournal.com (search: slaughter) or, directly at http://www.germanlawjournal.com/current issue.php?id=128Google Scholar

(20) Supra, note 1, Para. 36.Google Scholar

Id.Google Scholar

Id.Google Scholar

See, for an overview of recent policy arguments for and against the eternally disputed Shop Closing Act, e.g. http://www.tu-dresden.de/jfoeffl4/OeRimWWW/OeRAktuell.html.Google Scholar

Id., Para. 38.Google Scholar