Restrictions on special offers and discounts introduced in Armenia

YEREVAN, July 27. /ARKA/. A string of amendments to the law On Trade and Services and the Tax Code, designed to defend consumers’ interests, come into force in Armenia from July 31, Tigran Markosyan, a member of Armenia’s Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition, told a news conference on Wednesday.

Markosyan specified that the amendments are related to discounts and special offers touted by retailers. He said the Commission had fixed a set of violations committed by the latter, when the discounted price of a good was higher than the original price, when incomplete or inaccurate discount information was provided, when there were no real price changes and when discounts were too long.

Markosyan said that under the new regulations, a discount implies a price reduction, which is calculated based on the average cost of a good during the month before the discount was announced. He explained that the discount can be expressed both in percentage terms and by declaring the final price of the product.

"The discount cannot last indefinitely. It should be valid for a maximum of three months," he said. "If discounts up to a certain percentage are announced, for example, up to 50%, then this discount should apply to at least 1/5 of the discounted products," he said.

According to him, a limit of up to 3 months has also been set for announcing special offers. Regulations will also be imposed on advertising special offers through the media, billboards and other means of disseminating information, however, at least one of the advertisements must include 4 mandatory items: what special offer means, its duration, list of goods or services covered by the offer and conditions (if any).

"If the list of goods and services covered by the special offer is not announced, according to the new law, all goods and services are subject to discount," he noted.

Markosyan said that violation of the regulations will be fined up to 5% of the income of the economic entity in the previous year. -0-