Fines totalling nearly €310,000 over a product sold as "Deutsche Markenbutter" will stay in force after the Administrative Court for Sofia Region upheld them, the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) said. The ruling is a first-instance decision.
The product was sold as butter in a misleading way, but it contains more than 95% non-dairy fat. The court found the CPC decision lawful and said the fines match the seriousness and length of the violations.
The commission has also opened cases against two of the big retail chains over possible unfair practices towards producers and suppliers. It started them in late May 2026, after a sector analysis and a close study of the big chains' pricing.
The CPC has spent the past five months gathering evidence and is now reviewing it. Both cases are at an advanced stage, and the commission expects to rule on one of them within about 10 days.
For each unfair trading violation it finds, the law allows a fine of up to 10% of total turnover for the previous financial year. The CPC's calculations for the big chains' turnover show this means tens of millions of euros even for a minor violation. For a serious one, the fine could top €100m.
A preliminary inquiry into unfair trading practices at the chains is also continuing. It follows reports from the Consumer Protection Commission that mark-ups on comparable products from different suppliers differ widely.