Photo: Bulgaria ON AIR
After the order of the Council of Ministers, inspections of grocery stores against artificial price increases have begun. The main purpose is to check whether the published promotional prices of some products are respected and whether they have been deliberately increased in price before.
“From February 15, the KZP, in coordination with the BABH and the National Revenue Agency, started a large-scale campaign in connection with the implementation of unfair trade practices by traders. The emphasis is on the food chains, with the aim of preventing the artificial increase of prices. The campaign covers the territory of the entire country. The checks for now are at a very early stage, it is not possible to make generalized information. Unfortunately, there is a tendency to observe that there is almost no checked object in which no violation has been found,” said Angel Jalev from the Commission for Consumer Protection in the studio of “Bulgaria morning” “.
They check every single piece of information that could mislead consumers into buying goods they wouldn’t otherwise buy if they knew their real qualities and values.
“We monitor the promotions, the weights… We receive signals from the users. This is precisely in connection with these promotions, which do not really exist and for which our committee has paid special attention. This is a major problem in the market, which leads to an artificial increase in prices. One of the most common violations by traders is weighting, as well as prices and non-existent promotions,” added Jalev on the air of Bulgaria ON AIR.
Among the frequent violations, he mentioned the period for the announced promotion.
“It is more specific in the case of foodstuffs, as they are perishable more quickly. There, the period is shorter. It is already clear to every citizen that somewhere along the chain from the producer to the final consumer, the prices of the goods have increased several times and unjustifiably – something , which is not a result of the economic inflationary processes in the country. Inflation is already slowing down, costs should decrease. Unfortunately, this is not happening. The traders themselves admit that every week the price goes up, which is not normal,” he emphasized he.
Jalev noted that they also carry out inspections in non-food stores. Asked what the sanctions are, the guest in the studio answered: “When it is established that an unfair practice is applied by a trader, the sanctions reach 50,000 BGN. The purchase price of the milk cannot be below 1 BGN, and the store has almost enough BGN 4.”
Watch the entire conversation in the video.
