Our right to be informed - displaying prices

Last Sunday we carried a letter from Emanuel Muscat, followed by my comments, about the perennial issue involving shops which do not display prices on items in shop windows. My parting shot was: "I must stress that this is not the last article in this column on this issue. Indeed, next week I will be featuring comments on this issue by Marcel Pizzuto, director-general, Consumer and Competition Division". Well, here follows Mr Pizzuto's prompt reply:

With reference to the letter carried regarding display of prices on products, I would like to bring the following to your readers' attention:

The Consumer Affairs Act (Price Indication) Regulations, 2002, which came into force on October 1, 2002, stipulate that any trader who offers goods for sale on a retail basis to consumers should display by means of appropriate marking the price of the goods being offered for sale.

Moreover, in the case of any goods including foodstuffs, which are sold or offered to consumers per unit weight/measure, the actual price (being the price for a given quantity of good) as well as the unit price (being the final price per kilogram, litre, metre, square metre or cubic metre) should be indicated.

This effectively means that if, for example, a retailer is selling a pre-packed portion of a particular quality of cheese, the retailer has to indicate on the packing of that pre-packed portion not only the price related to the weight of that particular portion but also the price per kilo of that particular quality of cheese. The price must be the final retail selling price and is to include VAT and any other charges.

The obligation on the trader to indicate the selling price and the unit price, where applicable, enables consumers to evaluate and compare the price of products in the best way possible, thus helping them to take an informed decision before buying a product.

Last year, officers from my Division carried out visits in 4,198 retail outlets in Malta and Gozo. As a result of this exercise it was established that 70.5 per cent of the retail outlets visited were in conformity with these regulations. This enabled the Division not only to identify those outlets that were not conforming with the regulations but also served to bring to the attention of the traders their obligations under these new regulations.

These inspections were followed up by another visit to the same outlets and this time it resulted that only five per cent of these outlets still had not taken the necessary steps to conform with the regulations. This time the owners of these retail outlets were warned that action would be taken against them if they did not take the necessary steps to adequately display prices on products being sold from their shop.

Of course the above only reflects the position as regards those outlets visited by our officials and we are conscious there is still a lot of work to do before we can be satisfied with the percentage of outlets which adequately display prices on their products. The Division feels that enough time has now passed to enable traders to conform to these regulations.

While it will continue to advise traders about their obligations, it will have no other option but to take action against those outlets which still continue to breach these regulations in spite of our warnings. This is not only in the interest of the consumers but also of those traders who comply with these regulations but find themselves competing unfairly with those who fail to do so.

I thank Mr Pizzuto for a prompt and informative reply on such an important issue. I encourage you to maximise on the situation by being vigilant.