site.btaAssen Vassilev: Proposed Consumer and Competition Legislation Will Not Reduce Prices

The proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection Act and the Protection of Competition Act will not lead to lower prices and may even have the opposite effect, said Assen Vassilev, leader of the Continue the Change (CC) party, speaking to journalists on Tuesday after a meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Budget and Finance in the newly elected National Assembly.

According to him, the revisions to the Consumer Protection Act had already been proposed by GERB last year and approved through amendments to the Introduction of the Euro Act, and have so far produced no result. "What became clear is that they did not stop the increase in prices," the former finance minister said.

He noted that the CC will support at second reading two specific provisions in the competition protection bill, related to expanding the definition of unfair practices in contracts between retail chains and producers.

According to Vassilev, however, the remaining texts in the draft are "very concerning". He criticized the proposals which, in his view, eliminate the presumption of innocence and place companies in a position where they must prove themselves not guilty.

The CC leader also commented that a new approach is being introduced for determining a "lack of competition", under which companies may be treated as a cartel without there being coordination between them.

He also expressed doubts regarding the possibility of the state determining a "fair price" for a vast number of goods. In his words, the Commission for Consumer Protection and the Economy Ministry cannot realistically analyze millions of items every day and determine their real cost price. "This is an analysis that usually takes months and is carried out for a limited number of products. It is absurd to do it daily for millions of items," Vasilev said.

According to him, imposing administrative burdens usually backfires and may trigger a further increase in prices. He added that if the proposals are adopted in their current form, the only real positive effect would be a better profit margin for Bulgarian producers compared with retail chains.