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On Monday 2 February 2026, the Chamber of Employees (Chambres des Salariés - CSL) issued a newsletter clarifying the new rules concerning the opening hours of retail and craft businesses and Sunday working hours in Luxembourg.

The CSL recalled that the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg's parliament) adopted the relevant law on 18 December 2025.

Opening hours for retail establishments

The CSL noted that these provisions apply to all commercial and craft activities that require a business licence and involve a direct sales or the provision of services to end consumers in a physical point of sale open to the public, such as supermarkets, hairdressers, etc.

The following commercial and craft activities are expressly excluded:

  • cinemas and any point of sale located in a cinema complex whose operation is directly linked to the operation of the cinema;
  • sales outlets located in railway stations and airport terminals;
  • restaurants, accommodation and drinking establishments;
  • activities carried out at fairs and markets;
  • activities carried out on the occasion of clearance sales or street markets organised temporarily;
  • family businesses in which, outside the time slots set out in articles 3 and 4, only ascendants, descendants, siblings or relatives of the same degree as the manager are employed, all of whom are non-salaried and have reached the age of majority;
  • sports and fitness centres and swimming pools;
  • indoor and outdoor playgrounds;
  • funeral parlours;
  • motor vehicle service stations located along roads, offering the sale of fuel, lubricants, spare parts, accessories or essential maintenance products for the proper operation and roadside assistance of motor vehicles, as well as the sale of food and non-food products;
  • sales carried out through vending machines.

Time slots determining the possible opening hours for the activities mentioned above:

  • from 05:00 to 21:00, Monday to Friday;
  • from 05:00 to 19:00 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and the eve of public holidays;
  • from 05:00 to 18:00 on 22 June (National Day Eve), 24 December (Christmas Eve) and 31 December (New Year's Eve). Outside these opening hours, customer access to points of sale and direct sales to customers are prohibited.

Opening hours may be extended up to 01:00 under a collective agreement or interprofessional agreement.

On 1 January (New Year's Day), 1 May (May Day) and 25 December (Christmas Day), shops shall, in principle, remain closed. Exceptionally, butchers, bakeries, pastry shops, caterers and refreshment rooms may remain open on these dates from 05:00 to 19:00. Other establishments may be authorised to operate on these days from 05:00 to 19:00 under a collective agreement or interprofessional agreement.

Continuous opening for 24 hours is permitted and is limited to twice per calendar year. These days must be notified at least one week in advance via a secure electronic portal.

Furthermore, continuous 24 hours opening from Monday to Sunday may be provided for by agreement within the framework of a collective agreement or an interprofessional agreement for the following activities:

  • the sale of foodstuffs;
  • the sale of medicines and health products;
  • the sale of hygiene, cleaning and sanitary products;
  • the sale of optical goods;
  • the sale of medical, orthopaedic and speech therapy goods;
  • the sale of pet food;
  • the sale of books, newspapers and stationery;
  • the sale of household and kitchen utensils;
  • the sale of fuel, combustibles, lubricants, spare parts, accessories and maintenance products for the proper functioning and repair of vehicles;
  • the sale of tobacco products and electronic cigarettes;
  • the sale of telecommunications equipment.

These provisions shall enter into force on 19 June 2026.

Working hours for employees working on Sundays

Previously, employees of retail businesses could work a maximum of four hours on Sundays. From now on, the following rules apply.

For companies with 30 employees or less, working hours are no longer limited to four hours but to eight hours.

Employees of companies with more than 30 employees may work on Sundays for a maximum of four hours. However, this working time may be increased to a maximum of eight hours through a collective agreement or by an interprofessional social dialogue.

The number of employees in the company is determined based on the workforce employed on 31 December of the previous calendar year.

For a newly established company that does not have a reference workforce on 31 December of the previous calendar year, the number of employees is assessed on the day of its establishment for the current month. For subsequent months of the year of incorporation, the workforce threshold is assessed on the last day of the previous month. Starting from the following calendar year, the reference number is determined based on the workforce employed on 31 December of the previous calendar year.

The following employees are taken into account when calculating company’s workforce:

  • all employees of the company engaged under an employment contract, except those under an apprenticeship contract;
  • part-time employees working sixteen hours or more per week are fully counted in the calculation of the company's workforce; for employees working less than sixteen hours, the workforce is calculated by dividing the total number of hours specified in their employment contracts by the legal or contractual working hours;
  • employees on fixed-term contracts and employees made available to the company are taken into account proportionally to their time spent in the company during the twelve months preceding the mandatory date for establishing the electoral lists. However, employees on fixed-term contracts and employees provided by another company are excluded from the workforce count when they replace an absent employee or an employee whose employment contract is suspended.

Moreover, companies employing more than 30 employees may be authorised by Luxembourg's Minister of Labour to engage their employees for up to eight hours on a maximum of six Sundays per calendar year, provided that these Sundays constitute regular opening days in the retail sector.

These are normal opening days, when the majority of companies are open to the public in accordance with common practices in the sector.

These provisions entered into force on 1 January 2026.