The incomes of the greater number of Bulgarian consumers are very limited and the major criteria when choosing goods and services are low prices. The National Association for Consumer Protection and the Sofia Chamber of Commerce and Industry have announced the first steps taken towards the creation of a register of loyal merchants, which would aim at transparent market and helping the consumers in choosing services or goods. The need for such a register is based on the fact that the control bodies cannot say who the unfair traders are, because of existing laws. Experts are currently working on the mechanisms, principles and criteria for including firms in the list.

Representatives of the National Association for Consumer Protection and the Sofia Chamber of Commerce and Industry held a meeting with representatives of branch organizations. Merchants say consumers do not read instruction manuals, which leads to a number of ungrounded returns. Loyal merchants will be required to make the right of choice easier by providing detailed and clear information to the consumers. One of the tasks of the National Association for Consumer Protection is to prepare the necessary regulations.

Damyan Lazarov, an expert in the sphere of consumer protection told us more about the main requirements:

"Before receiving the right to enter the list, each merchant should make sure the information on the label is detailed and correct. It is also important that the Consumer Protection Law is not broken and the term for correcting a mistake will be shorter. Merchants should also declare that they would not be using unfair practices and inequality in contracts.”

The Sofia Chamber of Commerce will implement the arbitration function in conflicts between professional organizations and the Commission for Consumer Protection. Georgi Chernev, head of the Chamber told us more:

“Branch organizations will be those who will approve the criteria for loyal merchants in a given branch. These organizations will be the filter that would let companies enter the register. Of course there may be loyal merchants who did not want to be part of the list, as participation is voluntary.”

 
“We also plan that the Chamber would  implement arbitration function and the subsequent control of the merchants that entered the register. We envisage annual or monthly inspections, if necessary, related to the implementation of the requirements.” 
 
The Association has already prepared claims against two monopolists whose contracts do not allow consumers to make claims related to the quality of services they receive. Large companies that have a dominant market position use the so-called forced sales. The Law on Consumer Protection prohibits forced sale of electricity, water and heating. Experts from the Association have revealed cases when the law was broken. Their position will be announced next month in relation to the steps that must be taken to stop forced sales. The next campaign of the association aims at checking whether content information on the labels is correct.

English: Alexander Markov