Skopje, 16.04.2024
The Minister of Economy and Labor, Besar Durmishi, held a press conference today at which he informed about the Rulebook on the manner of publishing prices of goods and the data that should be published by small, medium and large retailers engaged in retail trade, which arises from the amendments to the Consumer Protection Law.
Attached is the full speech of Minister Durmishi:
The Ministry of Economy and Labor is constantly working on measures and policies to protect the living standards of citizens, reduce the prices of essential food products and stabilize inflation.
Our efforts are yielding results.
As a result of the measures adopted since the beginning of the year, that is, limiting the margins on essential food products and some hygiene products, in March we have a decrease in inflation at an annual level of 2.7%, while in March compared to February, deflation of -1.3% was recorded, according to data from the State Statistical Office.
Let me remind you that at the beginning of the year, the Government, at the proposal of the Ministry of Economy and Labor, adopted a decision to limit the gross profit margin of 102 groups of essential food products, as well as a decision to determine the highest prices of 8 groups of essential food products. These two decisions entered into force on February 20 and will be valid until April 30, 2025.
As a step forward in terms of transparency in retail chains and protection of citizens' standards, amendments to the Consumer Protection Law were adopted at the beginning of March. With these amendments, retailers are obliged to publish the prices of all products.
The amendments to the Consumer Protection Law entered into force on March 4 and provide for an obligation, within 45 days of the publication of the Law in the Official Gazette, for every small, medium and large retailer engaged in retail trade to publish on its website, separately for each of its sales outlets, the current selling price, i.e. the unit price at the time of publication, of each product it offers for sale.
According to the legal amendments and the Rulebook prepared by the Ministry of Economy and Labor, and published in the Official Gazette, starting from April 18, retailers will have to publish the prices of all products on their website.
According to the Rulebook of the Ministry of Economy and Labor, small, medium and large retailers engaged in retail trade are obliged to publish the prices of the goods they place on the market on their website in a clear and accessible manner, through a special section of the retailer's website dedicated to prices, that is, Price List.
Published prices should be available without the need for registration or additional login.
The price list should contain:
-Name of goods-product (trademark, model, etc.)
-Sales price with VAT
-Unit price per kilogram, liter, meter
-Description of goods
-Availability in a sales facility
-Regular price with VAT
-Promotional or discount price which should include a price with a discount expressed in percentages, type of promotion, whether it is a promotional offer, loyalty package or seasonal discount, as well as the duration of the promotion or discount.
Retailers should update the prices of goods on a daily basis, that is, every working day by 10:00 a.m.
In the event of an unintentional technical error in updating the prices of goods, the retailer should correct the error within 24 hours.
To be clear, from Thursday, April 18, all retailers (small, medium or large) will have to publish the prices of each product they offer in retail. This includes markets that sell essential food products, fruits and vegetables, and retailers that sell hygiene products, retailers of white goods, toys, textile products, construction materials, tools and electrical appliances, literally all retailers that conduct retail trade.
Only micro-traders, i.e. those employing up to 10 people, are excluded.
Citizens will now be able to choose where they will spend their money because they will be able to see and compare for themselves which market has the lowest prices. They will be better informed about which product costs how much at which trader.
Our expectations are that this measure will further reduce prices in the coming period.