Retail chains in Bulgaria have come under the scrutiny of the authorities after the country’s Consumer Protection Commission uncovered a high rate of infringements and alleged unfair trading practices in the retail sector.
In the last two weeks, the Consumer Protection Commission has carried out 471 checks in large grocery stores, finding 252 violations. There are almost 200 cases where unfair trading practices are suspected.
There are unfair trading practices in the big retail chains in Bulgaria that raise suspicions of making unreasonably high profits, Deputy Prime Minister Hristo Alexiev told the media on Thursday.
The government is not waging war on the chain stores, but has an obligation to protect consumers’ interests, he added.
“I have always been in favor of protecting the economy, but unfair practices and unethical behavior result in unfair prices for Bulgarian society,” commented Economy Minister Nikola Stoyanov.
The government will indeed continue its inspections and constantly monitor food prices, Stoyanov said, adding that it will work to remove all the hidden fees that retailers charge – logistics, marketing, bonuses, positioning of the goods and others – Publicizing charges, amounting to 20 percent of food prices, that can be declared as unfair trade practices, the government said.
Bulgarian trade attachés in EU embassies are already monitoring the prices of over 20 staple foods in seven EU member states – Germany, Austria, France, Romania, Greece, the Czech Republic and Croatia.
“It makes no sense that Bulgarian citizens have to pay more for products in our country, since both energy and fuel are more expensive in other countries,” Stoyanov said.
At the end of February, Nikolay Vulkanov from the Organization for Modern Trade told Bloomberg TV that there is a coordinated, massive pressure on the retail chains from the entire repressive state apparatus to bring down inflation in the country.
The government does not understand that inflation has many complex causes and is not an isolated phenomenon in Bulgaria, he added at the time.
Source: euractiv
