The CPC ruled that the intention of mobile operators to raise the prices of services is unfair commercial practice. Today we issue an order banning it. This was stated by the Minister of Economy Cornelia Ninova, a BGNES reporter reported.
This practice is unfair because mobile operators intend to raise the price twice, because they want to do it for 2020 and for 2021 together in January-February, when the NSI index comes out, to be reflected in the invoices for February, explained Cornelia Ninova.
As of today, there will be an act of the body banning it. We want to warn them that if they do, we will implement all the mechanisms and legal measures to prevent this. And there are several – imposing a fine is the least. It amounts to BGN 1,000 to 30,000. Secondly, we will turn to the court to request that, if our order is appealed, a preliminary execution be applied, ie. not to proceed with the price increase, Ninova added.
One of the tasks is to make legal changes to protect consumers from any pressure.
By November, the CPC had received 21,000 complaints, showing how many people were affected by various cases. The complaints are against ERPs, district heating, water supply, and sewerage, low-quality goods, Ninova said.
For his part, the chairman of the CPC Dimitar Margaritov said that the citizens are receiving something that they were informed about at the last moment before the holidays. According to Margaritov, the operators are trying to get abusive. “We demanded the opinions of the operators, they have been analyzed and there may be a dialogue, but we must take into account what is legal,” Margaritov added.