“Like hedgehogs making love”: Regulators promise to be ruthless towards euro speculation

Two days. That's all it took for some retailers to start speculatively raising prices before Bulgaria joined the eurozone.

On Wednesday, our country got the green light from the EC and the ECB with positive convergence reports on accession.

They are to be reviewed by a number of European institutions, with a final decision expected on July 8.

Nevertheless, the entire country, including businesses, has already mobilized its forces in preparation for the euro, and it appears that some participants in the commercial chain are going overboard in their efforts.

We are receiving certain signals and there is information about already increased delivery prices," announced Rumen Spetsov, executive director of the National Revenue Agency (NRA), during a press conference.

According to him, the signals cover goods and services such as water, coffee, hairdressing services, products in cafeterias, and others.

For this reason, the NRA, together with the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) and the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC), signed a cooperation agreement to regulate and synchronize the actions of the three institutions and the exchange of information between them.

On June 3, the three regulators began inspections of commercial establishments in search of speculatively inflated prices. Spetsov explained that the inspections are taking place in over 30 cities and more than 150 commercial establishments. The scope of the goods being inspected includes 14 basic food groups, but it will be expanded to include services, fast food outlets, and restaurants.

This control is not just because of the euro, but to reassure citizens that they will not be cheated and that they will not pay unreasonably high prices," Spetsov assured.

According to him, the institutions have worked well together so far, but “from now on, the tasks are extremely important” and cooperation will be closer.

Spetzov warned traders who have started such unfair practices that he expects more VAT to be paid next month.

Where there are price increases, we expect an increase in VAT revenue as early as next month,” Spetsov added.

Once is not enough

Spetsov said that this month alone, checks will be carried out on businesses that have already been inspected to see if there have been any price changes.

The second inspection is coming up soon, after which the Agency will share the results and let us know if there's been any artificial price hikes.

Misleading in red

The head of the CPC, Maria Filipova, said that the key word for today's agreement is “unity.”

By uniting, our powers become so strong that we will be relentless in pursuing every single violation," Filipova said firmly.

She reminded that some retailers, mainly large chains, have already started to display prices in both leva and euros.

However, some of them write the euro value in red, a color used for discounts.

There are samples of prices in leva and euros on the CPC website," Filipova reminded.

Checking by phone

The head of the CPC pointed out that work is underway on what she called a “software solution” that will allow consumers to check by phone whether the euro equivalent of goods and services has been calculated correctly.

This is most likely a mobile app that calculates the conversion rate of 1.95583 for us. It may be similar to the National Revenue Agency's app for cash receipts.

How hedgehogs make love

The head of the CPC, Rosen Karadimov, warned that the three regulators “are not scaring anyone and are not violating the principles of the market economy.”

On the contrary, we encourage every business initiative, but those who decide to loot, for the first time, perhaps, will face the full force of the state,“ Karadimov assured.

He pointed out that just as hedgehogs make love ”very carefully," so is the message from the joint press conference.

Justified price increases

Karadimov said that a day earlier, the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria (AICB) had notified the Commission that three out of four waste management organizations had raised their eco-taxes by between 700 and 800%, directly affecting 127 companies.

As a result, the CPC will investigate the existence of a cartel, while the National Revenue Agency (NRA) and the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) will check whether there is an economically justified price increase.

Translated with DeepL.