The employers’ confederation appealed to the EC against the government’s actions in business regulation.

The Confederation complaint alleges that the economic regulation standards established by the Government are inconsistent, biased, not based on clear data or calculations on the application of one or another restriction to companies engaged in the trade of food and other goods. .

According to D. Arlauskas, for example, it is not clear on the basis that the Government has established different requirements for different merchants in terms of commercial space, the requirement to have direct access to the field or has decided to allow the sale only to stores with a specific commercial space (i.e. 300 square meters of commercial space). Area requirement).

“These unreasonable requirements still create different conditions for competitors to operate, so such government regulation violates relevant European Union rules that member states must comply with,” Arlauskas said in a statement.

According to him, the freedom to do business, the right to property, equality before the law, the right to good administration and the principle of non-discrimination are restricted.

“This regulation of economic activity is not attractive and deters foreign investors from investing in Lithuania,” says the employer representative.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania believes that even during the quarantine period, economic activities should be regulated consistently and reasonably to preserve a level playing field.

Since mid-January, the GDL asked the government to allow the opening of non-food stores.

The government has only allowed food trade in markets since mid-December, and after mid-February quarantine conditions were relaxed and small non-food stores with open-air entrances, market traders with separate entrances, were reopened. they still can’t open them. Zita Sorokienė, president of the Lithuanian Association of Small Entrepreneurs and Traders, says that traders feel discriminated against.

Representatives of the Lithuanian markets had announced in mid-February that they were preparing lawsuits against the state for quarantine restrictions, which they said violate competition rules and protect large traders.

The Council of Small and Medium Enterprises also spoke about the intention to go to court for quarantine restrictions.

The Competition Council has stated that it is not investigating the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the redistribution of the retail market, as some merchants are allowed to operate and others are not. Šarūnas Keserauskas cautions that not all statistics, such as the turnover of traders, can show the change in market power due to the crisis.

However, it has repeatedly emphasized that the restrictions imposed on companies as a result of the quarantine must be proportionate and must not confer unjustified privileges on some companies by discriminating against others.

The second quarantine in Lithuania is valid from the beginning of November. By decision of the previous government of Saulius Skvernelis, cafes, bars and restaurants, sports clubs, cinemas, spectators at sporting events were banned, and lessons in schools were restricted.

Ingrida Šimonytė’s government tightened the quarantine in mid-December, ordered the closure of non-food stores and most service providers, prohibited people from leaving the municipality and communicating with more than one household without good reason, and extended distance education for students.