site.btaNational Revenue Agency Checks 150 Food Shops Over Euro-Linked Price Rises of Traditional Easter Foods

The National Revenue Agency (NRA) inspected nearly 150 food shops, bakeries and butcher's shops in early April over unjustified price rises linked to Bulgaria's euro changeover, NRA said here Wednesday. The checks focused on eggs, lamb and kozunak (sweet Easter bread), and led to 18 violation reports.

Unjustified price increases were identified at about 8% of the outlets inspected, while 17% issued cash register receipts that failed to comply with legal requirements, NRA said.

Since October last year, NRA’s fiscal inspectors have inspected nearly 14,000 commercial outlets, most of them food retailers and catering establishments.

So far, NRA inspectors have issued nearly 1,100 violation reports and more than 400 penalty notices for the breaches identified, with a total value of almost EUR 1,027,675.

Large-scale inspections of food retailers for compliance with the Law on the Introduction of the Euro in the Republic of Bulgaria are ongoing. The teams will request documents on the origin of goods, supplier details, purchase and sale prices, quantities delivered and sold, delivery dates, turnover, costs, and other relevant information, the NRA added.

Under the Law on the Introduction of the Euro in Bulgaria, during the period of dual price display, traders offering goods and services to consumers must set their prices in good faith and in a transparent manner, and any price increase must be justified by objective economic factors.