Prices for socially significant goods are constantly monitored, measures are taken against violators - MART
March 11, MINSK. Prices for socially significant goods are constantly monitored, and appropriate measures are taken against violators of the legislation on prices and pricing. Kirill Slabko, HEAD of the department for coordinating control activities of the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade, told journalists today, BelTA has learned.
"The key to price control is the efficiency and effectiveness of the measures taken. A complex of various tools and mechanisms is used to achieve the desired result. We first of all analyze all the information received by the ministry: appeals from citizens and government agencies, publications in the media. We have special hope for an online form posted on the MART website, which allows you to quite accurately determine which product and when the price has increased, and work precisely in a specific direction," Kirill Slabko said.
All the information received is analyzed, brought to the territorial bodies of MART for testing. Based on the results of consideration of these data, decisions are made. These can be instructions, recommendations, the beginning of an administrative process against the perpetrators. The question of suspending the operation of retail facilities may even be raised: such a right was granted to MART by decree No. 143 of April 24, 2020.
The Ministry in 2020 revealed 199 violations of the legislation on prices and pricing. Based on the results of consideration of these materials, 100 perpetrators were brought to administrative responsibility. The amount of penalties amounted to more than Br200 thousand. Since the beginning of 2021, 16 such violations have been identified. “Among the goods for which prices were inflated, I can name onions, buckwheat, chicken. But these violations are not of a systemic nature, today there may be one thing, tomorrow another,” Kirill Slabko noted. “Penalties for legal entities are quite tough. twice the difference between the proceeds obtained illegally and the proceeds that should have been in accordance with the law. These amounts in practice can amount to thousands and tens of thousands of rubles.
According to him, violations can be both on the part of suppliers and retail chains. But more such facts are recorded from the side of trade. "However, violations of violations are different. There may be a technical error or a human factor, as a result of which the trade markup will be 0.1% higher than it should be. And there are also abuses when trade markups are increased by 3-4 times - we had cases when instead of 30%, it was 120%. Here, more serious measures are taken against violators," the MART representative stressed.
The government adopted Decree No. 100 dated February 23, 2021, which provides for strict price regulation measures for socially significant essential goods. The list includes rice, FLOUR, semolina, buckwheat, oatmeal, pearl barley, bread, beef, pork, chicken, some types of sausages, fish, MILK , kefir, sour cream, cottage cheese, fruits and vegetables, SUGAR, soap, toilet paper, diapers, matches, as well as certain medications. From March 1, the monthly change in prices for socially significant goods should not exceed 0.2% of the price for these goods, prevailing on the last day of the previous month. “With the adoption of this resolution, we saw an increase in applications addressed to us. According to the materials that we have already considered, no violations have yet been established. Some of the materials are still in the works,” Kirill Slabko noted.
In connection with changes in the Tax Code, from January 1, 2021, the legally established procedure for collecting VAT on medicines and medical devices that were previously exempt from this tax has changed. When selling such goods on the territory of Belarus, when they are imported into the country, a VAT rate of 10% is introduced. You can report a significant increase in drug prices online on the MART website. “Since January, we have received about 45 requests. This information was brought to our structural divisions in the regions, they worked it out. We see that the price increase was primarily associated with the introduction of VAT. Some business entities are already taking measures to reduce prices for by reducing the size of trade allowances," the representative of MART noted.