LUKKELOVEN

Denmark woke up to a new era this morning, as the abolition of the Lukkeloven ("Closing Law") came into effect. This was the law that regulated the hours that shops and supermarkets could be open. Like most regulations of that ilk, they were complicated and slightly irritating. However, from today, a shop can open 24/7 all year round if it wants to. The only exceptions are 13.5 public holidays; but even there, the exception can be waived, if the shop's turnover is less than kr.32m (roughly £3.5m) a year.

My local Netto supermarket has already taken advantage of the looser regime, and will now open 8am - 10pm seven days a week. Beforehand it used to close much earlier in the evening, and was not always open on Sunday. So the new rules give me a much greater choice.

Apart from the increased options available to consumers, the main winners from the change will be youngsters under 18, whom the supermarkets will hire to man the check-outs, since they are cheap. However, since longer opening hours are unlikely to lead to more purchases of vegetables, the effect on retail businesses is likely to be some sort of cannibalisation. Bigger supermarkets will probably win at the expense of smaller ones; but rural supermarkets may also win at the expense of big city ones, since people will be able to shop closer to home, and queues/parking are easier.

If the economic effect is uncertain, the legal effect is not. This is a liberalisation that won't be reversed.

Walter Blotscher