The Consumer Protection Commission, the National Revenue Agency and the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency are starting joint inspections in the warehouses of large retail chains throughout the country. The control will cover prices, origin and food safety, as well as the movement of goods from the supplier to the final recipient.
The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency will check documents of origin, traceability of products, quality and storage conditions. Inspectors will also take samples for laboratory tests.
The Consumer Protection Commission will look for unfair trade practices, false or misleading information about the origin and characteristics of goods, as well as unjustified price increases. The National Revenue Agency will compare the declared goods with the stocks in the warehouses, the accompanying documents and the data on their receipt and subsequent movement.
Inspections after data on high markups
The joint action begins after the results of inspections in the retail chains announced by the CPC. The Commission has initiated 11 proceedings for misleading commercial practices and unjustified price increases for essential goods.
Among the indicated data are a markup of 135 percent for one type of butter, between 53 and 95 percent for different types of white brine cheese and between 75 and 88 percent for yellow cheese. For certain types of fresh milk, markups of between 68 and 99 percent have been reported, and for 400-gram yogurt - between 31 and 80 percent.
“Markups of 135 percent do not exist in Europe“, said the chairwoman of the Consumers' Confederation Maya Manolova. According to her, the goal of the inspections is for prices to return to fair values, and for markups to be around 20-30 percent depending on the category.
What sanctions are possible
Retail chains will have the opportunity to present evidence of the justification for the increased prices. In case of violations, the Consumers' Confederation may impose sanctions of 10,000 to 100,000 euros per product. The Commission has also referred the matter to the Commission for Protection of Competition, which has the authority to impose fines calculated as a percentage of the turnover of the relevant company.
On October 21 at 11:30 AM, the Chairperson of the Competition Commission Maya Manolova, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Plamen Abrovski and the directors of the National Revenue Agency and the Bulgarian Anti-Fraud Agency will review the progress of an inspection at a warehouse of one of the retail chains.
Sources: investor.bg, business.dir.bg