Today, the Parliamentary Group of the MRF-NEW BEGINNING will submit to parliament a draft law on the maximum price mark-up. The purpose of the draft law will be to tighten control over prices and price mark-ups of basic products until the end of 2026, resulting from the transition to the common European currency. It will provide protection to consumers from speculation and bad trading practices.
The draft law provides for the adoption by the Council of Ministers of the so-called "Consumer Shopping Basket", including basic food products and goods such as flour, bread, milk, sugar, rice, and others, as well as the introduction of a 20% cap on the price mark-up of shopping basket goods between the producer or importer and end users.
The grounds for the draft law state that similar models have been applied in most European countries such as Germany, France, Greece and Spain.
Oversight of violations will be carried out by the Comission for the Protection of Competition, the National Revenue Agency and the Consumer Protection Commission. Fines for those found to be in breach of the law will be between EUR 5 and 20 thousand.
The draft law is mainly aimed at supporting and protecting socially vulnerable groups such as pensioners, families with children and low-income households, where food costs exceed 50% of monthly income.
