DISY and EDEK yesterday repeated their demand for the establishment of a Consumers’ Commissioner.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Lefteris Christoforou of DISY and EDEK deputy Giorgos Varnava agreed recent cases of profiteering in the Cypriot market demanded drastic measures to protect the consumer public, and an independent commissioner would be very useful.
AKEL’s Stavros Evagorou pointed out that the suggestion had in the past been rejected by the Plenum, but he admitted that Cyprus was in need of measures to protect consumers from profiteering companies.
“It is a common conclusion, following a marathon meeting by the Commerce Committee, that over-pricing is alive and well in our country and that there has been no way of combating it, resulting over the past few years in irreversible harm to the more vulnerable sectors of society,” Christoforou said after the meeting.
“The state itself is admitting that its services are dramatically under-staffed, and in the free Famagusta area there is no official from the Competition Commission, while in the Paphos district there is one ministry representative,” he added. “And the government is expecting to control and monitor the market…”
Evagorou added: “Our discussions have led to two basic conclusions: first conclusion is that the public services for consumer protection need to be upgraded and structured, because we heard that there are districts where there is no staff from the state’s services.”
The second conclusion, he continued, was that there were price increases due to the obligatory double pricing on products, where company owners decided to round their prices up from now and avoid punishment when the euro was introduced in January. “As a result, due to the procedures for the introduction of the euro, we have had profiteering and this was agreed on by all parties involved in the discussion,” Evagorou said.
He suggested there were a number of measures that could be taken to ease the situation, suggesting “the modernisation of the Competition Commission and giving the state the ability to prosecute, as well as the Consumers’ Associations”.
DIKO deputy Nicolas Papadopoulos said there were a number of different laws – 28 to be precise – for the protection of consumers.
“What is required here is to implement this legislation, so that during this especially sensitive period, there is protection for the broader public,” Papadopoulos said.
Varnava said his party EDEK was centred on three basic problems: price increases, profiteering and fixed prices.
“We say that there needs to be co-operation, as well as financial support for the Consumers’ Association, who on a voluntary basis until today, have proved to have worked towards the benefit of the consumer,” said Varnava.
“At the same time, we are repeating our proposal for the establishment of a Consumer Commissioner, an institution that exists in other European countries, the best example being Greece,” he said.
