By Stefanos Evripidou
NEW LEGISLATION aimed at curbing profiteering, especially in tourist areas, will be proposed by DISY deputies Christodoulos Taramoundas and Lefteris Christoforou in next week’s plenary session. If approved, the penalty for making super-profits will range from two years imprisonment to a £2,000 fine or both.
“We aim to impose certain limits on profiteering, having in mind the country’s sensitivity towards tourism,” said Taramoundas yesterday. He explained that the proposed legislation was geared towards consumer products sold at prices obviously disproportionate to their market value.
“The Commerce Minister (Nicos Rolandis) initially said that Europe allowed profiteering and there was nothing that could be done about it. This is impossible,” said Taramoundas. The DISY deputy told the Cyprus Mail that a number of European countries had measures in place to control and regulate profiteering. “This year’s EU Directive on the sale of products does not forbid the control of prices of products, and now even the Minister admits that certain products’ prices are controlled in Europe,” he said.
Taramoundas said that three categories of product pricing methods existed: first, through the conventional market forces of demand and supply; secondly, through the regulation of a group of products on the extent of profit being made (examples in Europe include items like bread or milk), and thirdly, by the fixing of prices on items such as baby food, a policy undertaken by a number of European countries.
“Our provision aims to cover profiteering on all consumer products. Under the second category pricing method, we aim to regulate consumer products that are at a much greater price than their ‘market value’ as defined by Article 302 of the Criminal Code,” he said. Taramoundas maintained that price control was already being exercised in Cyprus through the mandatory approval of price catalogues for all eating and drinking establishments by the Cyprus Tourism Organisation. If consumers are charged one cent more for a product than what was approved for that establishment, then the owner may be taken to court.
“So you see there is already price control in Cyprus in this area, but we are now proposing for the protection of the consumer in supermarkets too. We all know how tourists can be taken advantage and there needs to be protection for them.”
An official from the Commerce Ministry said that from 1973, 61 product prices were controlled, but only cement prices now remained on the list. Fuel prices come under different legislation. The official said that since market competition was healthy, there was no need for price controls. The competition commission has been set up in their place to investigate discrepancies in the market. But he acknowledged that price control was not illegal per se in Europe, as the main obligation for member states was to avoid discriminatory prices, and did not rule out adopting some forms of price control. He added that Greece regulated the price of fruit and vegetables but maintained that this was only in theory, not in practice.
Chairman of the Cyprus Consumers Association (CCA), Petros Markou, said that the CCA would welcome such a move and was willing to discuss further possibilities of having a ‘recommended retail price’ as in other European countries. “This would not go against European directives, neither would having a ceiling price on certain products,” he said, adding: “It’s time for some control in the market in line with European law.”
Markou announced that a new market survey was planned for early December to compare prices of supermarkets throughout Cyprus. “We are extending the list of items to include more products than before. The aim is to see if selling prices that were previously high have remained so. The last study showed price fluctuations between 15 and 28 per cent for the same product in different supermarkets. This is unacceptable,” said Markou.
