site.btaParliamentary Committee Adopts Two Bills to End Unfair Trade Practices, Contain Prices

The parliamentary ad hoc budget committee on Tuesday adopted two bills, submitted by Progressive Bulgaria MP Yavor Gechev and a group of MPs, aimed to contain prices and end unfair trade practices.

Amendments to the Protection of Competition Act provide for a ban on "excessively high selling prices". The bill also provides for the establishment of a central electronic register for traceability along the supply chain of agricultural and food products and raw materials, as well as other products at the wholesale trade stage, from business operators to distribution to the end consumer. 

A second bill to amend the Consumer Protection Act transfers provisions from the Euro Adoption Act and extends their application by one year beyond the initially planned deadline. The amendments will remain in effect until August 9, 2027.

Opposition parties were skeptical of the proposals. Continue the Change (CC) leader Assen Vassilev said that 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.

Beyond two provisions, related to expanding the definition of unfair practices in contracts between retail chains and producers, according to Vassilev, the remaining texts in the draft are "very concerning". According to him, imposing administrative burdens usually backfires and may trigger a further increase in prices. 

GERB-UDF remains skeptical of the proposals, MP Vladislav Goranov said. "We disagree with the reasoning that the introduction of the euro is the main inflation booster and we are convinced that in fact the automatic increase in wages and expansionary fiscal policy led to what is happening with prices," Goranov said, adding that the caretaker government did not control these processes within the framework of existing legislation.

Goranov said that the current legislation also contains sufficient instruments allowing the state to act, including measures proposed by GERB in the past.

The anti-inflation measures proposed by the ruling majority create misleading public expectations and could ultimately lead to additional price increases, MP Martin Dimitrov of Democratic Bulgaria said.