Filenews 18 February 2023 - by Angelos Nicolaou
In the autumn, the consumer is expected to have in his hands an important tool that will facilitate him in his daily shopping, choosing the cheapest products from the points of sale where he is used to shopping.
It is a digital platform of the Consumer Protection Service, which is currently under public consultation for all interested parties until 24 February 2023. The draft bill concerns the process of recording consumer product price data and establishes rules on the process of recording and monitoring product price data with the aim of directly and better informing consumers and monitoring sales prices.
It is a basket of 1,300 products, which will be accessible to every consumer through the platform, but also through an application on smartphones.
Through the application, consumers will be able to monitor the daily prices of basic products on the shelves of supermarkets and bakers. One of the most important elements of the platform is that consumers will have the opportunity to configure their daily basket with the products of their preference to see the final cost of their list and then choose the store that suits them for their final shopping.
The coordinator of the competition sector of the Consumer Protection Service at the Ministry of Commerce, Aliki Iordanous, said that through the bill, supermarkets and bakeries are obliged to update daily until 10:00 a.m. the electronic platform with the prices of basic products as they will be determined through a decree of the Minister of Commerce that will be published in the official gazette of the Republic. It is noted that by decision of the Director of the Consumer Protection Service there is the possibility to periodically review the products based on their sales and seasonal needs.
The consumer entering the application on his mobile will be able to track a complete price list with the 1,300 products, compare prices per store in the area where it is located for the basic products of the household and if he wishes to choose for his purchases the cheapest store. Essentially, the mobile application replaces the product research that consumers do today by choosing the cheapest stores.
According to Ms. Iordanous, after the conclusion of the public consultation on February 24, the formed bill will be submitted to the Legal Service and then, after approval by the Council of Ministers, it will be submitted to the Parliament for discussion and vote. "It will air in September," he said.
At the same time, he pointed out that the technical characteristics for the announcement of tenders for the selection of a contractor who will prepare the digital platform and the mobile application are being prepared.
The online platform will include supermarkets and bakeries, depending on the sales turnover of the previous financial period. Specifically, the draft bill states that "all supermarkets with an annual turnover of more than €8,000,000 are obliged to submit price data without exception, based on the financial statements of the immediately preceding financial period, and all bakery products businesses with a turnover of more than €1,000,000, without exception, on the basis of the financial statements of the immediately preceding financial period'.
The draft states that the failure to submit or submit an inaccurate and/or incomplete declaration, in accordance with the provisions of this law, constitutes an infringement, which is punishable in the form of an administrative fine of €1,000 to €50,000, depending on the turnover of the person responsible for submitting price data in the year immediately preceding the violation, depending on the case and depending on the gravity of the violation.
Price data is defined as the daily shelf prices defined as the retail price, without promotions, in total per food and/or other product business, and/or the average selling price applicable on the previous day (total product sales turnover divided by number of items sold).
An observatory is being prepared for Lent
On February 24, in view of Green Monday, the new price observatory of the Consumer Protection Service will be published. It is noted that since January this observatory has been upgraded and now presents the weighted average price for 250 basic consumer products (food and other basic products), based on the quantities and prices per day at which these products were sold in 400 retail stores nationwide throughout the month. The valuation made for January shows that in a total of 45 categories of basic products, 16 categories show a decrease of up to 3% (cold cuts, cheeses, sugar, bottled water, fresh meat / fish, cereals / bagels / biscuits), while from the remaining categories, in 22 moderate increases of up to 1%-3% are recorded and in seven categories significant increases. These categories concern frozen fish +30%, flour +6.4%, frozen molluscs and breaded fish +5% and frozen meat +4.2%.
