Consumers will be faced with new data regarding promotions and offers on basic goods on the shelves of supermarkets in the near future. Specifically, from the beginning of March, the implementation of the new Code of Conduct for offers and discounts will begin, with the aim of eliminating misleading practices once and for all.

In a statement to the Athenian Macedonian News Agency, the general director of the Union of Supermarkets of Greece, Apostolos Petalas, said that this is a European code, a European directive which has been adopted by most European countries, including Greece.

“In essence, it is a code for communicating a product’s price reduction across the entire retail spectrum,” Petalas stressed.

As he explains, the implementation of the new code in supermarkets and other retail markets has been underway for two years. “In supermarkets the volume of offers is very high, the speed of products very fast and the consumer traffic is very frequent (an average consumer visits supermarkets 52 times a year) so the impact on this sector is very high. In this context, more time was needed to prepare the industry” he notes.

How the new Code of Conduct will work

The code of conduct is about price communication, not about product pricing, Petalas explained.

Essentially, he continued, it has two basic principles. When a price reduction is communicated either in the form of a discount or in the form of an offer, then the communication will be made in relation to the reference price which is the lowest price that this product has been sold in the last 30 days in that particular store. The second key point is that a quantitative offer (one plus one gift, two plus one gift, three plus one gift) cannot be valid all year round because then it is not the correct price of the product. Obviously, he continues, the price must be different from the price stated in the communication and this is precisely why the Ministry of Development specifies that the time of an offer cannot be valid for more than 1/3 of the year.

“The implementation of the code helps the consumer to be able to understand exactly what the communication made about a product means. The consumer understands that the communication (discount or offer) is made with a reference price. This makes everything clearer for the consumeror”, Patalas stresses.

The general director of the Hellenic Supermarket Association recalled that the preparation of the sector’s businesses has been underway for six months, on the initiative of the Ministry of Development and the General Secretariat of Commerce, and the supermarket chains have the necessary cooperation with food producers, the Association of Greek Food Industries and ESVEP, which represents multinational companies, in order to prepare properly for the implementation of the code.

The most important thing, according to Petalas, is for consumers to understand the changes. “The consumer over the years has become addicted to a way of perceiving offers. This will change radically and, eventually, the consumer will be able to compare product prices and be aware of the final price they pay for a product.“

Measures for inflation

Asked about the measures the government is taking to tackle inflation, the director general of the Hellenic Super Markets Association, Apostolos Petalas, said: “several of the interventionist measures, when they were taken during the last few years and especially during the pandemic period, made sense. Because of the uncertainty that existed, the measures were aimed at protecting the consumer and the market. However, he notes, almost all of these measures are still in force today and precisely because of their long duration, their existence both hinders competition and does not help the consumer to have the possibility to choose the chains that will make their purchases with cheaper products.“

Code of Conduct from 6 March, inspections from 17 March

As the Ministry of Development has announced, after months of consultation with all market players (supermarkets, food industry, multinationals) – to make it clear what constitutes a discount and offer and how the relevant promotions can be made – the Code of Conduct has been finalized by the General Secretariat of Commerce of the Ministry of Development.

The enriched Code of Conduct, to which new cases of violations of consumer legislation and examples relating to misleading discounts and offers will be added, will be announced on Thursday 6 March.

This will be followed by a ten-day information and familiarisation period for the market and from Monday 17 March intensive checks will be launched by the competent services to implement the Code of Conduct.

That is, as it has become known, any promotional action in supermarkets will be calculated on the basis of the lowest price that the product in question has been sold in that store in the last 30 days and not on the “official discount” given by the supplier. In the case of multi-packages (“1+1 gift” or “2+1 gift” etc.) , the product must also be available individually on the shelf, so that the consumer can compare prices directly. For multipacks with offers valid for up to 60 days, the reference code (mother code) of the product does not need to be on the shelf, as long as the usual selling price of the product, outside the offer period, is the one relied on by the trader in the offer, which is documented by the invoices that the supermarket will have sent, earlier, to the Ministry of Development, in accordance with its obligation under the legislation.

With regard to commercial practices, such as discount cards and coupons, which entitle the consumer to a price reduction for all of the seller’s products or for specific product lines, during extended continuous periods (e.g. (e.g. six months, one year), or even when the consumer receives a coupon (e.g. 20% discount) with the purchase made, which will be valid for the next purchase or for a specific period of time, are still controlled by the provisions on unfair commercial practices.

The penalties provided for in the code will be up to €1.5 million, depending on the seriousness of the infringement, and in case of a repeat offence the fine may be doubled.