Polish MPs have approved a law that will phase out Sunday shopping by the year 2020 - despite criticism that it may eliminate thousands of jobs.

The bill, proposed by trade unions that want shop workers to spend more time with their families, got support from the ruling party that adheres to Catholic values.

Critics say it would negatively affect Poland's economy, eliminating tens of thousands of jobs, and hurt supermarket chains, which are mostly western.

Polish MPs have approved a law that will phase out Sunday shopping by the year 2020 - despite criticism that it may eliminate thousands of jobs. (Above, file image of Christmas shoppers in Warsaw)

The lower house, dominated by the ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, voted 254 -156 with 23 abstentions to limit Sunday shopping to the first and last Sunday of the month from March 1 until the end of 2018; only on the last Sunday in the month in 2019; and to ban it totally starting in 2020.

There will, however, be some exceptions that will allow Sunday shopping before major holidays like Christmas and Easter.

Sunday shopping: What happens next? Until end of 2018: The bill will compel all but very small shops to close on two Sundays a month. From 2019: the new legislation, if signed into law by PiS ally President Andrzej Duda, will allow shopping malls to stay open just one Sunday per month. From 2020: shopping malls will be allowed to operate only seven Sundays per year, before major holidays. Advertisement

Also, online shops and bakeries are to be exempted from the ban.

The bill still needs approval from the Senate and from President Andrzej Duda.

While Sunday shopping remains limited in some of the biggest economies of western Europe, it bloomed in the east over the last two decades as people embraced malls as a sign of economic prosperity following decades of shortages under communism.

A survey by state-run pollster CBOS showed that 58 per cent of Poles supported curbs on Sunday shopping.

A poll by private pollster Kantar TNS showed 76 per cent backed a solution that would guarantee two free Sundays per month for retail sector employees without any curbs on shopping.

Poland's Bishops Conference welcomed parliament's move.

'Let's not disregard God in public life and let's not assume we have the right to organise national life as if God didn't exist,' it said in a statement.