The Commission for Consumer Protection (CPC) is starting checks on retail chains today to find out real selling prices and trading habits. Inspectors will collect data and write a report on supply prices. They will compare current prices with prices from specific past dates.
The checks will focus on groups of products. They will first look at dairy, fruit, and vegetables, as these are the categories people complain about most. The CPC will check if every price hike has a good reason. The commission will take legal action if it finds any rule-breaking. The goal is to protect people from unfair price hikes and misleading sales tactics.
The CPC is currently working on about 12,000 consumer complaints across different sectors for goods and services. People are regularly reporting price rises for basic food items.
Results from recent checks on fuel prices at 200 petrol stations across Bulgaria are expected in a few days. The CPC added that checks will expand to other sectors next week, including services, where people say prices keep going up.
In a talk with BTA on 29 September, CPC chair Maya Manolova said she is starting checks on the real purchase prices of goods from Bulgarian producers. "During the checks, the truth about real prices will become clear. We want people to know the actual prices at which Bulgarian goods and Bulgarian products are bought," Manolova said.