Romanian competition body watches closely government's plans for food price capping

Bogdan Chiritoiu, the head of the Romanian Competition Council, said that the body expects the government to send it the food price cap draft law. Meanwhile, its experts are analyzing the impact of a similar strategy in Hungary, according to Economica.net.

Such measures should be taken over limited periods of time, he stressed.

Romania has already enforced such a price capping mechanism aimed at capping the price markups along the production-distribution-retail chain for basic food goods. Chiritoiu admitted that the mechanism kept the prices of targeted food goods "at lower levels compared to where they should have normally been" but resulted in higher prices for other goods.

Now, the government seeks to expand the mechanism such as to include all food products.

"We asked our experts to look at the decision of the European Court of Justice regarding Hungary. When we receive a text (from the Romanian government), we will analyze it and come up with a point of view. I am almost certain that the government will send it to us for approval. The Executive is not bound to take into account our opinion, but it must send us the bill for an opinion," said Chiritoiu.

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