Three large-scale inspections of the Consumer Protection Commission are currently underway, Commission Chairperson Maya Manolova told journalists.
"On gas stations for increased fuel prices, on retail chains for prices and on banks for bank fees", explained Manolova.
She showed data on the increase in prices of two main groups of food products - dairy products and fruits and vegetables for the period August-October, reaching 17%. According to her, the Consumer Protection Commission will request information on what factors justified this increase, otherwise sanctions will be imposed, as provided for in the Consumer Protection Act.
The Director of the General Directorate “Market Control“ at the Consumer Protection Commission Ignat Arsenov said that for some increased products, the increase in the basic price does not justify the increase in the price itself selling price. For cucumbers, the delivery price has decreased by 14%, while the selling price has increased.
Manolova cites data from the chains themselves, according to which markups for some products reach 141%. "I think markups of 99% to 141% are shameless, they are unfair and impudent in relation to Bulgarian consumers", she said.
"This gap between delivery and selling price literally ruins Bulgarian households. When shopping in a supermarket, the budget of a household is literally ruined. This is a distorted market, this is a catastrophe for the budgets of Bulgarian households", explained Manolova.
According to her, the chains have made a commitment to the Bulgarian government with the initiative "Basket with Care". "We all saw that in most cases there was no, and in many from the chains there was not even a basket", she said. The Consumer Protection Commission has the authority to carry out inspections in cases of significant deviations from the fair value. "Our insistence is for sanctions in cases of significant deviation from the fair value, we are ready with a bill that we have presented to the members of parliament", she explained further, specifying that all this excludes dialogue with the retail chains.
Next week, a meeting is scheduled with the businesses against which there are the most complaints. According to her, her goal is to have results on the prices of food, medicines, unfair practices in telecoms and bank fees.
Regarding fuels, the inspections carried out show that in 8% of the inspected sites there is an unjustified increase in the price of propane-butane mainly. The Consumer Protection Commission will ask for justification, Arsenov said. The increase is from 1 to 3 cents, which, according to him, is unjustified.