Credit: SIP / Claude Piscitelli

On Wednesday 3 September 2025, Luxembourg’s Government presented a series of conclusions concerning social dialogue, labour law, working hours, Sunday work, shop opening times and pension reform, following meetings with the country’s social partners.

According to Luxembourg’s Ministry of State, the Government Conclusions are as follows:

a) Social Dialogue: The Government emphasised its strong commitment to the traditional Luxembourgish social model. The Government and the social partners renewed their commitment to address priority economic and social issues in close cooperation, under this model.

b) Collective Labour Agreements: The Government confirmed that it will not table draft laws to amend (i) the signature rights of trade union organisations in collective agreements or (ii) the mandatory content set out in the Labour Code. The Standing Committee on Labour and Employment (CPTE) is mandated to discuss possible measures to strengthen the legal certainty of all clauses negotiated between the social partners in the framework of collective agreements and subordinate agreements.

c) Organisation of Working Time: The CPTE is mandated to discuss possible measures to improve the legal framework governing the organisation of working time.

d) Sunday Work: The Government will propose amendments to Bill No. 8456 to make the adaptation of Sunday working hours in the retail sector, from four to a maximum of eight hours, conditional on the conclusion of a collective agreement or an inter-professional agreement for companies with more than 30 full-time equivalent employees at group level.

e) Opening Hours: The Government will propose amendments to Bill No. 8472 as follows:

  • Monday to Friday:
    • opening hours set from 05:00 to 21:00;
    • a derogation will be possible from 21:00 to 01:00 by agreement under a collective agreement or an inter-professional agreement;
  • Saturday and Sunday:
    • a derogation will be possible from 19:00 to 01:00 by agreement under a collective agreement or an inter-professional agreement;
  • General provisions:
    • shops selling essential goods may benefit from full derogation, i.e. 24/7, with an agreement under a collective agreement or an inter-professional agreement;
  • Exclusion list:
    • street fairs and markets are added to the exclusion list.

f) Pension System: The Government will table in the Chamber of Deputies a package of reforms including the following elements:

  • maintaining the legal retirement age at 65;
  • from 2026, the conditions for early retirement from the age of 60 will be arranged to progressively extend the period of compulsory contributions by a total of eight months (one month per year for 2026 and 2027, two months per year from 2028 to 2030 inclusive), while maintaining the conditions for early retirement from age 57;
  • increasing the contribution rate from 24.0% to 25.5% from 2026;
  • maintaining the adjustment moderator introduced by the 2012 reform of the general pension insurance scheme to address expenditure coverage problems;
  • for social protection reasons, as an exceptional derogation from the 2012 reform, maintaining the year-end allowance;
  • allowing so-called complementary periods relating to years of study to be inserted flexibly over the insured’s entire insurance career;
  • introducing social assistance for persons receiving an old-age or survivor’s pension and living in low-income households;
  • increasing the annual tax deduction for payments made under retirement provision (third pillar) from €3,200 to €4,500;
  • to bring the effective retirement age closer to the legal age, introducing a tax allowance for insured persons eligible for an early old-age pension who voluntarily continue working until the legal retirement age of 65;
  • introducing phased retirement based on modalities in force in the civil service;
  • no changes to the current shift-work or adjustment early retirement schemes;
  • the pension system will be subject to review in 2030.