Row over publication of recommended prices

A row has broken out between the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU and the National Euro Changeover Committee over the publication of an importer's recommended retail prices of products falling under a price stability agreement.

The prices were published in L-Ewro Fuq L-Ghatba, a newspaper mailed to households, following an agreement reached between the Euro Observatory within the Ministry for Finance, which regulates the changeover to the euro, and major importer VJ Salamone.

The latter has promised not to increase the prices of some 600 of its products between October and March. The GRTU has levelled accusations of an "anti-retailer campaign". In a letter to Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech, GRTU director general Vince Farrugia complained that only the largest operator could afford to sell below the recommended price and he accused NECC of instigating consumers to dump the smaller shop for the larger retailer.

Mr Farrugia also described it as "giving extensive free publicity to one trader at the expense of all his competitors".

But the Euro Observatory defended its decision to publish the prices, saying it was in the interest of consumers to know what products fell under such an agreement.

National Euro Changeover Committee executive director Alan Camilleri said: "We believe this is not preferential treatment since any importer or economic operator has the possibility to enter into a price stability agreement anytime."

Rejecting the charge that the publication of the prices would provoke a preference for the larger outlets, he said an analysis of more than 600 retail outlets and supermarkets indicated that the selling price of each item was consistently lower than the recommended retail price. "We have been monitoring prices in these outlets since April, and it transpires that small retailers mostly discount on the recommended retail price as opposed to some supermarkets who either sell at the recommended retail price or slightly above."

He said that publicising good practice did not distort market economics, bringing the example of the FAIR initiative, which gave free publicity to those retailers who promised not to take advantage of the changeover by increasing prices.

Moreover, he said, the publishing of prices by national administrations was not a new phenomenon. The Italian Economic Affairs Ministry had published a list of prices to provide consumers with guidance on price levels.

He added that the Euro Observatory has already announced the launch of a website to publish the results of its Price Watch exercise.

Furthermore, the recommended retail price of products can also be found on supermarket shelves.

Mr Camilleri said it was quite surprising that the GRTU had never raised the issue with the NECC or at ministry level.