Shoura Passes Draft Law on Shop Timings

Tuesday, 13 March 2007
By Sabria S Jawhar
The Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH
ALL commercial shops in Jeddah will close at 10 p.m. in summer and at 11 p.m. in winter, if a draft law endorsed by the Shoura Council on Sunday is approved by the Cabinet.

Businessmen strongly opposed the move, saying they will incur an yearly SR10 billion loss.

At present there is no regulation governing the shop timings. So most of the shops in the city remain open till late in the night.
But as per the new draft regulation, shops will remain open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. in winter and from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. in summer.

Pharmacies, restaurants and recreational facilities are exempted from these working hours. They can remain open till late in the night.

The logic behind changing the shop timing is to attract Saudi jobseekers, said a Shoura member on condition of anonymity.

The present long working hours are not conducive for Saudis to take up jobs in these shops, because they - unlike foreign workers managing commercial establishments - have families. With the new timing, Saudis may take up these positions, said the Shoura member.

It will also bring social order. The youths who roam around shops till late in the night will have no option but to go home and be with their families when shops are closed, the Shoura member reasoned.

The draft law to change the shop timing was approved with minimum vote, said the Shoura member who took part in the voting.

Only 75 members out of 150 voted in favor of Article 4, which is related to shop timings.

This prompted some members to suggest introducing new related Article that gives regional councils the flexibility to implement the regulation.

But this has not been discussed yet, he said.