Competition Agency receives 509 consumer rights complaints in 5 months
The Georgian National Competition Agency launched investigations on 285 issues related to protection of consumer rights. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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The Georgian National Competition Agency on Monday said it had launched investigations on 285 issues related to protection of consumer rights out of 509 complaints it had received between November 2022 and March 2023.
In the reporting period, the Agency reached 83 agreements in 123 cases on conditional liability, with the deals made in favour of consumers.
The agreements were reached with traders to undertake an obligation to change internal business policies and restore the rights of consumers who were allegedly harmed as a result of their [former] trading policies”, the body said.
It also added fulfilment of the obligations would be “actively monitored”.
Image: Competition Agency
The Agency said 65 cases had shown violations of the rights of consumers, while seven cases had been dismissed. Nine traders were fined in 20 cases for failure to fulfil obligations imposed by the body.
It added 63 percent of applications received from consumers had been related to online shopping and 37 percent to local purchases.
The wholesale and retail trade sector comprised 65 percent of the complaints, while transport and warehousing made up 16 percent, construction five percent, art, entertainment and recreation four percent and other activities 10 percent.
The majority of complaints - 85 percent - were received in the capital city of Tbilisi, followed by the Black Sea region of Adjara with six percent, the western region of Imereti with four percent and the eastern region of Kakheti with two percent.
On the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities marked annually on December 3, the Georgian Government on Sunday announced that work to fulfil the goals and objectives outlined in the second National Strategy for the Protection of Human Rights of Georgia for 2022-2030, adopted in 2023, was underway by developing a 2024-2026 national action plan.
Projects implemented by the Communications Commission of Georgia for protecting rights of consumers and developing media literacy were introduced by the body’s member Vakhtang Abashidze to the audience of the international conference on Competition and Consumer Protection in Tbilisi on Thursday, the state body said.
Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili on Thursday highlighted the progress made over the recent years in developing “healthy competition” for the country’s business sector and ensuring consumer rights at the international conference Competition and Consumer Protection, hosted in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
The Georgian National Competition Agency has confirmed the first violation of regulations in sales of hardware on the domestic market, after an electronics store sold an item without properly providing the customer with relevant information.
Irakli Lekvinadze, the Chairman of the National Competition Agency of Georgia, on Tuesday said enforcement of competition and consumer rights protection policies in the country was “becoming stronger”.
The Competition and Consumer Protection Agency of Georgia on Monday said it had received 578 complaints on violations of consumer rights between November 2022 and January 2024 and opened cases on 340 of the submissions.
The Competition and Consumer Protection Agency of Georgia on Tuesday announced it had fined three companies ₾1.6 million ($595,954) for an arrangement that granted exclusive rights to selling cinema tickets online in violation of competition law.