In view of the shopping frenzy and promotions awaiting consumers at every turn, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has decided to take a closer look at the topic of how traders communicate the prices of products and services.
The consumer always has the right to obtain detailed information about the goods, especially the price. Reliable information means, for example, providing a unit price, which gives the opportunity to compare prices of similar products.
The Trade Inspectorate has been inspecting for a very long time whether the consumer is given full, clear and unambiguous information about prices in stores and service establishments. The inspectors compare the compliance of the displayed prices with the prices coded at the checkout, in the reader and the information provided in advertising materials.
The results of the inspections are not very optimistic, as more than half of the traders examined make mistakes.
In the first half of 2022, the Trade Inspectorate carried out inspections of the accuracy of price information of goods and services of 1,637 traders. Inspectors checked, for example, stores, retail chains, restaurants, gas stations and parking lots. As a result, irregularities were detected in more than 50 percent of those inspected.
As a reminder, unfair price marking carries penalties of up to 10 percent of turnover.
