Georgia: National Competition Agency investigates 80 applications of Consumer Rights Violation

Tbilisi: The Georgian National Competition Agency for Consumer Rights conducted investigations on 80 applications of consumer rights violation out of 165 applications that were registered from November 2022 to February 2023.

During four months, the competition agency – for the benefit of the user, signed 23 agreements on conditional liability. This means merchants have committed to changing their domestic policies and restoring rights to consumers who have been potentially harmed by their trading policies.

 The Agency monitors the process of fulfilling the obligations taken by companies in active mode. At this time, the case related to the 3 cases is completely exhausted.

 In the same period, by the decision of the Agency, five violations of the rights of the consumer group were confirmed, and in 1 case, it was not confirmed.

 It is important to note that 80% of the customer requests are about online shopping, and 20% are about buying items on-site. According to the regions Tbilisi is still leading with 92%, next place is Imereti 4%.

According to the data received and processed, the refund request is 28%, repair or return of a defective item 28%, prohibition of misleading activity 13%, unconditional return of the item 5%, and the rest 26%.

In the calculated period, according to received applications, 74% of wholesale and retail sectors are occupied by 74%, transport and start-ups by 13%, information and communication by 1%, and other activities by 12%.

Any person has the right to apply to the National Competition Agency, shall be no later than two years after such violation. The Agency might seek to investigate the alleged violation of consumer rights in case it receives information about the action of a , particular person(s) violates or tends to violate the right of a group of consumers.

In the case of the confirmation of a violation, the Agency shall determine a period for a trader to restore the rights violated by it and/or to terminate the action prohibited by Law. For the failure to execute or for the improper execution of a decision of the Agency, the Agency shall impose a penalty on a trader. 

In case of repititive violation during the 12 months period, the respective trader shall be subject to a penalty which will be double the amount of the previously imposed penalty.