{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/shops-sunday-trading-c-northern-ireland-order-1997/article-3",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/shops-sunday-trading-c-northern-ireland-order-1997/article-3.json",
  "legislation": "nisi/1997/2779",
  "legislation_title": "The Shops (Sunday Trading &c.) (Northern Ireland) Order 1997",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/shops-sunday-trading-c-northern-ireland-order-1997",
  "path": "article/3",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "3",
  "heading": "Large shops not to open on Sunday except in accordance with Articles 4, 5 and 6",
  "text": "(1) Subject to Articles 4, 5 and 6, a large shop shall not be open on Sunday for the serving of retail customers.\n(2) If paragraph (1) is contravened in relation to a shop, the occupier of the shop shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £50,000.\n(3) Where a person is charged with having contravened paragraph (1), in relation to a large shop which was permitted by virtue of the exemption conferred by paragraph (1) of Article 5 to be open for the serving of retail customers on the Sunday in question during the hours mentioned in that paragraph, by reason of his having served a retail customer after the end of those hours, it shall be a defence to prove that the customer was in the shop before that time and left not later than half an hour after that time.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisi/1997/2779/article/3",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T04:41:12.500856+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}