Facua is going to file a complaint with the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) against eight distribution chains for not passing on the VAT reduction to all staple foods affected by the measure that came into force on January 1 . The consumer association has analyzed 676 prices in establishments of Alcampo, Carrefour, Mercadona, Dia and other large chains and has detected several breaches of current regulations. Price increases should only be made in case of cost increases.
The field work was carried out between December 30 and January 3. Four days in which the supermarkets had to have adapted the VAT reduction to the affected products. However, Facua concludes that there are 52 foods in which a price reduction equivalent to that of the tax has not been applied. 34 prices are identical to those at the end of the year, 11 have not affected the entire tax reduction and seven are even higher.
Dia is the company in which Facua has detected the most breaches. 17% of their analyzed prices, 14 of 82 products, do not comply with the drop. One liter olive oil has risen from 5.15 to 5.25 euros. The same thing happens with sunflower oil. There are also products in which the VAT reduction has led to an upward rounding of the price. For example, in the case of Dia, the dozen fresh eggs have gone from 2.30 to 2.22 euros, one cent more. The same happens with the eggplants and with the flour of force.
In Carrefour there is 10% of the prices analyzed, 11 of 113, in which the VAT reduction is not being complied with, denounces Facua. The semi-cured mixed cheese of a certain brand of 475 grams has gone from 10.49 to 11.05 euros in a matter of four days. Sunflower oil, a dozen eggs, whole milk or a loaf of whole wheat bread are at the same price.
The same thing happens at Eroski, 8 out of 92 prices are not correct. Philadelphia cheese, spaghetti or oil have not been reduced. And in Alcampo there have been no changes in grapes, pears or kiwis either. Frying potatoes have gone from 3.89 to 4.19 euros. At Mercadona and Hipercor, for their part, price breaches detected by the consumer organization barely reached 1%.
Facua advises that it will continue to monitor food prices and report non-compliance to the CNMC. The organization points out that establishments cannot raise the prices of food affected by the VAT drop at least until the end of April, a period that will be extended if the underlying VAT for the month of March is not below 5.5%.
Facua identifies three types of irregularities in the different establishments: charging consumers the same amount as before the VAT reduction, products in which the retail price is even higher than the days prior to the entry into force of the the measure and cases in which the decrease is less than the one that should be applied if the tax reduction were fully passed on.
In its complaint, Facua requests the CNMC to investigate the practices and open the appropriate disciplinary proceedings to determine if the prices applied represent an increase in business profit margins or are justified by increases in the costs of products where the VAT reduction.
