Overcharging and profiteering is not a rare phenomenon amid the coronavirus crisis. Especially, in products with high demand, such as masks, antiseptics and gloves, the prices have skyrocketed. While the price for one simple mask was €0.40 before the crisis, the COVID-19 increased it to €1.70. Now the Greek government is urging consumers to denounce to relevant authorities when they detect cases of overcharging in products.
“Whenever consumers detect overcharging they should file a complaint with the general secretariat of Commerce and Consumer Protection at the phone line 1520 and there will be an immediate investigation,” said Development and Investments Minister Adonis Georgiadis on Thursday, speaking to OPEN TV.
He stressed that fines will be imposed on the very same day for businesses caught profiteering.
Regarding the supply of the market, especially for antiseptic products, he said that the market was being supplied every day but there were not enough products to meet the high demand.
Therefore, a restriction of just two pieces of antiseptic products per customer has been imposed.
The Minister said that a cosmetics firm will add an additional of 250,000 units of antiseptics to its daily production to cover the high demand, which is close to 1 million units a day.
Referring to the measures in place for enterprises, the minister announced the inclusion of more professions in the protection measures, such as lawyers and pastry shops, he said.
“The time limit of the crisis is undeterminable,” he said, adding that it is crucial that the sectors that are open remain so because the higher the economic damage, the more difficult things will become later.
