During the government meeting, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu denounced a deceptive practice by some merchants who reduced product weight while maintaining prices.
He described it as a disguised price hike and urged control authorities to take immediate action.
“I believe this is a form of consumer fraud. It is actually a camouflaged and economically unjustified price increase under a very similar packaging. I ask all control authorities in Romania to intervene urgently”, declared the prime minister.
PM Ciolacu announced plans to adopt a regulation inspired by the French model, requiring producers to visibly disclose any weight reduction on packaging if prices remain unchanged, with strict penalties for non-complince.
“I ask all the control authorities in Romania to intervene urgently, and at the same time to prepare a regulation on the French model – the producers must be obliged to visibly indicate on the packaging that they have reduced the weight if the price of the product has remained unchanged, and obviously harsh penalties for non-compliance with this obligation” , stated Ciolacu.
In France, the regulation will take effect on July 1, but only for stores with a minimum area of 400 square meters. Within the initial two months after selling the affected products, traders must prominently and clearly display on packaging any weight increase or decrease by a specific percentage, along with how the price has altered. Violations of the French regulations can incur fines of up to 3,000 euros for individuals and up to 15,000 euros for legal entities.
ASAP