The Council of State plenum decided on Thursday to temporarily suspend the measures which allow shops to open on Sunday, following a petition submitted by retailers, traders and private employee unions against these measures.

Until the Council of State plenum issues its final ruling on the case filed by the above mentioned unions, the shops will be barred from opening on Sunday. The case is scheduled to be discussed by the court in the first days of November and the final ruling will be issued at the end of 2014 or early 2015.

The CoS plenum decided that the opening of shops on Sunday would result in irreparable financial harm and moral damages to the affected parties i.e. the retailers and employees, as it would entail loss of leisure time, the opportunity to spend time with their families as well as the right to worship.

It also accepted figures and studies submitted by the applicants which showed potential financial damage in light of the economic crisis, underlining that the administration had failed to produce figures or studies to counter these figures.

However, it should be noted that the plenum rejected other arguments presented by the applicants against the ministerial order, for instance that it violates the Geneva Convention establishing Sunday as a holiday or a claim that the ministerial decree was issued outside the foreseen deadline.

The case before the CoS was brought jointly by the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce (NCHC), the General Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants of Greece (GSEVEE), the Federation of Private Employees of Greece and the Thessaloniki Merchants Association, as well as two retail companies with shops in Athens and Thessaloniki and 10 individual merchants.