This is the third week that consumer protection is holding traders in all parts of the country to account for their compliance with the food price freeze. Of the 800 or so on-the-spot and online checks, just over sixty have been found to be in breach.
“Eleven consumer protection fines have so far been imposed by government agencies, totalling HUF 1.6 million. The first batch of one million has to be paid by a rural shop of a supermarket chain, because the price of crystal sugar on the shelf label was 10 forints higher than the prescribed price. The aim of the inspection series, which will last for three months, is to ensure that Hungarian people can buy at the reduced prices everywhere by detecting rare errors,” the ITM statement quoted Péter Cseresnyés, State Secretary for Trade Policy and Consumer Protection, as saying.
Consumer inspectors visited 760 shops in the first three weeks of February. Seventeen shops did not provide the right quantities of the food products concerned. Nine sites were found to have failed to comply with the mandatory information requirements. Some retail outlets failed in several respects. Of the fifteen online shops checked, only one did not apply the official price. The overall objection rate remained at the same low level as the previous week, below 8%. The first decision on a fine in the order of millions of euros was taken last week, the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (ITM) said on Tuesday.
The epidemic and soaring energy prices across Europe have caused food prices to rise significantly in Hungary. The government has fixed the maximum prices of granulated sugar, wheat flour, sunflower oil, pork legs, chicken breast, chicken tail and 2.8 percent UHT cow's milk at the same level as in mid-October last year, as of 1 February.
Source: MTI
