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- The truth is in the price: a single weight unit of goods can be fixed in the rules of trade
The truth is in the price: a single weight unit of goods can be fixed in the rules of trade
In the new edition of the trade rules, a single weight unit of measurement of goods may be established — kilograms or grams. The document is being prepared for republication by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Izvestia learned. Earlier, it was proposed to amend it in the State Duma, since weight manipulation leads to excessive and inflated expenses for Russians. Rospotrebnadzor also intends to participate in the revision of the document. How a measure can affect a business and whether it will protect customers is described in the Izvestia article.
Why do they want to change the rules of trading
A single weight unit for measuring goods — in kilograms or grams — can be fixed in the Rules of Sale under a retail sale agreement. The document is being prepared for republication by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as follows from the response of the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, to Yaroslav Nilov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans' Affairs. Izvestia has reviewed the document. In early November, the deputy appealed to the department with a proposal to oblige retail chains and stores to indicate the full weight of products.
"Mandatory requirements for the design of price tags are established by the provisions of clause 3 of the Rules for the Sale of Goods under a retail sale agreement, approved by government decree dated 12/31/2020. Currently, work is underway to update the rules in the form of their republication, the responsible executive of the Ministry of Industry and Trade," the document says. "In this regard, the proposals under consideration may become the subject of discussion as part of the ongoing work, in which Rospotrebnadzor is ready to participate as a body responsible for developing state policy in the field of consumer protection."
Yaroslav Nilov told Izvestia that after receiving a response from Rospotrebnadzor, he sent an appeal to the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Anton Alikhanov, with a proposal to include such amendments in the new trade rules.
According to him, the relevance and importance of this topic is confirmed by numerous statements from public organizations that protect consumer rights, as well as from Russians who are confused about price tags.
— In fact, the society has recognized that retail chains manipulate and mislead customers. When buying a particular product, a person may not immediately notice its full value and understand how much he eventually paid only after examining the cash receipt," Yaroslav Nilov noted.
A source familiar with the preparation of the new rules noted that their revision was due to significant legislative changes in the field of trade. In particular, the law on the platform economy is of key importance, which expands the responsibilities of digital platforms to consumers and sellers on marketplaces. According to the source, this requires appropriate reflection in the section of the rules concerning the remote sale of goods.
In addition, it is necessary to provide a more detailed procedure for the relationship of consumers with marketplaces. At the same time, according to the source, other changes may be considered that relate to the regulation of other areas of trade.
Izvestia sent requests to Rospotrebnadzor and the Ministry of Industry and Trade with a request to comment on the reasons for the reissue of the trade rules, as well as the prospects for supporting the deputy's proposal to establish a unified system for measuring goods.
Chairman of the Presidium of the Association of Retail Trade Companies (ACORT) Stanislav Bogdanov considers the deputy's initiative redundant, since the current rules and standards of retail sales already regulate this issue.
— According to the rules of sale, stores are required to indicate the price per unit of product or unit of measurement — weight or mass. When selling "weight" products, the label always displays the price per 1 kg and the cost of a plumb line. This allows the consumer to get acquainted with the full price information before making a purchase," he explained to Izvestia.
According to him, retail chains are constantly improving tools for clearly informing customers: automatic price checking devices are placed in trading halls, storage and display mechanisms are being improved, electronic price tags are being tested, which will help to more clearly visualize information about the price and unit of measurement of goods, including weight.
"Given the existing regulations and measures to increase awareness and the quality of customer information, we consider the introduction of additional regulatory regulation of the price tag format to be inappropriate," said a business representative.
Pros and cons of establishing a single weight system for goods
This is not the first time that the issue of establishing a single unit of measurement for goods has arisen, said Andrey Karpov, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Retail Market Experts.
— The fact that different weight measurements mislead consumers is not true. At least because they have been widely used by trade since 2014. During this time, consumers have become accustomed to the fact that the weight of the product may not be equal to any one unit and that you need to look at the packaging," he explained.
According to him, this has nothing to do with trade and directly concerns manufacturers: in this way they strive to show consumers in a marketing way that the price of their goods has not increased even with a decrease in packaging.
Based on this, the expert believes that making such changes to the rules of retail trade is quite strange, thus limiting people's choice. After all, for example, a person may not need a liter of milk or a whole loaf of bread, and he chooses a smaller volume and bread slicing.
Oleg Pavlov, head of the Public Council at Rospotrebnadzor and head of the Public Consumer Initiative, holds a different point of view.
— We see that retail chains often use not entirely conscientious methods, when the price tag indicates the cost not per unit of goods, but per 100 g. At the same time, the consumer does not always notice this and thinks that this is the price for packaging, which in fact can cost four or five times more expensive, depending on the total weight," the social activist explained.
According to him, this problem can be solved at the level of a government decree by amending the rules for the sale of goods.
— We are convinced that such amendments should be made, and this practice is recognized as illegal. If the seller wants to specify the price for 100 grams, then he must specify the price for the entire product. In this case, understanding the price and ultimately choosing products can be much easier for consumers," Oleg Pavlov added.
As Izvestia wrote, consumers lose up to 1 trillion rubles annually due to a decrease in the quantity, volume or weight of goods in a package, as well as indicating the price not for the whole package, but for 100 g.
Georgy Ostapkovich, research director of the HSE Center for Market Research, believes that if the deputies' amendment is adopted, it will definitely have an impact on increasing the costs of retail chains. According to him, they will have to increase the staff who will deal with price tags and monitor their changes. And this, in turn, may affect end users, the expert believes.
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