Towards regulation of “dark stores” by mayors

The government will take a decree in the coming days to regulate the dark blinds and the dark kitchens, these stores and kitchens dedicated exclusively to home delivery. The Minister for the City Olivier Klein affirmed during a consultation of local elected officials on the subject this morning that he ” [croit] in the intelligence of the mayors to allow this essential regulation “adding that “local elected officials know better than anyone what is good for the vitality of their city center and their neighborhoods”.

The dark blinds and dark kitchens are increasingly settling in cities, taking advantage of a legal framework that is still vague. There would be between 60 and 100 in the city of Paris alone, and nearly 1,000 throughout France.

Olivier Klein pointed out “unanimity” actors present during the consultation on a scenario that “integrates the dark blinds with or without a pick-up point in the warehouses sub-destination”. The legal vacuum concerning these new establishments in the city left a doubt about their status: logistics warehouse or local business? While a draft ministerial decree in the summer suggested that they could be assimilated to businesses, the government therefore seems ultimately to favor the status of logistics warehouse. He gives reason in this to the mayors of the big cities, who criticize these closed supermarkets and kitchens for competing with traditional local shops and causing nuisance for local residents.

Read alsoBattle between mayors and the government around the “dark blinds»

Olivier Klein affirmed during this consultation that he ” [croit] in the intelligence of the mayors to allow this essential regulation “adding that “local elected officials know better than anyone what is good for the vitality of their city center and their neighborhoods”. “Today marks the end of ambiguity”also welcomed in a tweet Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy mayor of Paris, at war for a long time against the dark blinds. “These brands will be recognized for what they are: warehouses, he added. It’s time for the nuisance to stop. »

For her part, Rebecca Bernardi, deputy mayor of Marseille in charge of trade, explained after leaving the Ministry of Ecological Transition that “ consultation […] with the government resulted in encouraging proposals and hinted at possible avenues for giving mayors the ability to regulate “. However, she recalled, cautiously, that “ pending a precise text, the debate [restait] open “.