site.btaManufacturers, Traders Sign Agreement to Curb Unfair Business Practices through Self-Regulation

Manufacturers, Traders Sign Agreement to Curb Unfair Business Practices through Self-Regulation

Sofia, March 10 (BTA) - An agreement to curb unfair business
practices through self-regulation was signed on Tuesday between
the Association for Modern Trade (AMT) and the Bulgarian Bread
Makers and Confectioners Union, whose representatives met in the
BTA National Press Club.

Mariana Koukousheva, President of the Chamber of Bread Makers
and Confectioners, said the main objective is to remove the
intermediaries between suppliers and traders, because their
services cost too much. "We hope that the self-regulation
mechanism will work in Bulgaria. We will devise a mechanism to
oversee the implementation of our rules and if it does not begin
to work in the near future, we will have to think of an
alternative," Koukousheva said.

AMT Executive Director Yordan Mateev said there are two options:
either the government intervenes in the relations between
suppliers and traders, or they act on their own to regulate the
market and enforce good trading practices. It is the second
option that underpins Tuesday's agreement, Mateev said. AMT
hopes to sign similar agreements with other sectoral
organizations, the Association's Boiko Sachanski said. An
agreement with the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists
in Bulgaria (KRIB) will be concluded next week.

Asked whether the agreement to curb unfair business practices
will lead to the abolition of the numerous charges imposed by
retail chains on producers, and hence, to a reduction of
commodity prices, Koukousheva said that many charges in the past
were unfair, but now they are almost nonexistent in the
practice of retail chains. Any charges are subject to
negotiations with the suppliers, she said.

Koukousheva said she cannot predict the future price of bread
because she does not know how fuel prices will change, but the
new agreement will not push bread prices up.