End of Grace Period: Price Checks in Euros and Leva

Today marks the deadline of the two-month grace period granted to merchants who failed to comply with the requirements set forth in the Law on the Introduction of the Euro. In the past months, institutions have adopted an approach based on warnings, instead of direct sanctions for businesses.

With the arrival of this important moment, the Commission for Consumer Protection (CPC) and the National Revenue Agency (NRA) are moving to an active phase of inspections. The Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry, Doncho Barbalov, announced the upcoming actions a few days ago. Increased control is expected in order to identify violations that could be related to incorrect practices in the transition to the euro.

The violations subject to sanctions are diverse and include unjustified price increases, incorrect currency conversion, as well as the lack of dual pricing – both in Bulgarian leva and in euros. For a first violation, the fine can reach up to 7,000 leva. For a repeated violation, the sanction is doubled, reaching 14,000 leva.

From the beginning of the law's entry into force in August until the beginning of October, inspectors from the CPC conducted nearly 600 inspections in various commercial establishments throughout the country. The inspections covered a wide range of places – grocery stores, stalls for fruits and vegetables, bakeries and restaurants, as well as shops for clothes, shoes, household goods, electronics, pharmacies, perfumeries and gas stations.

The results of the inspections show that the most common violations are related to the lack of simultaneous display of prices in leva and euros. Cases have been found of different sizes, colors or fonts of prices in the two currencies, as well as incorrect recalculation of prices in euros at the official exchange rate.

To date, over 70 warnings have been registered, issued to merchants who have not complied with the requirements. At the last meeting of the Commission alone, decisions were made to issue another 22 warnings. A significant number of these warnings are addressed to large retail chains with properties throughout the country. The CPC emphasizes that one warning often covers multiple stores of the same merchant.

We remind you that the amendments to the Law on the Introduction of the Euro in the Republic of Bulgaria were promulgated on August 8 in the "State Gazette". From that date, all merchants were obliged to display the prices of goods and services both in leva and in euros, as part of the process of smoothly transitioning to the new currency.