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Hypoland toy chain, that the authorities “saved” after massive inspections in September, has now been sanctioned with BGN 124,590 by the Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC). According to the official announcement, the reason is a misleading promotion reported by a “random” customer.
The owner of “Hipoland”, Marian Kolev, told Mediapool that he would appeal the decision of the antitrust commission to the court. He noted that “of course this is all a random event from a random customer,” while we all guess the answer to the question why he was fined.
Marian Kolev is one of the few well-known businessmen who have been openly committed to the cause of civil protests against the government and the attorney general.
In early September, she spoke out against violence against protesters during the September 2 demonstrations, “thanking” the police for the tear gas, which nearly blinded her son. The response was incredibly fast: all possible control institutions, as if under an order, came to check the toy chain. The only infringement that was discovered at the time was a discrepancy of BGN 9.60, entered into the computer by the cashier, but not recorded in the notebook.
Probably due to media noise, including growing external interest in the events in Bulgaria, the planned event of the Interdepartmental Coordination Center for the Fight against Smuggling and Control of Risky Goods at the CDCOC was quickly completed.
Once again, it became clear that Hypoland’s owner had been warned that if he did not stop protesting, his business would go bankrupt in 5 minutes.
CPC inspection begins after “indecent proposal”
The CPC inspection of the “accidental” customer signal is from before the start of the protests and is not related to them. In principle, the CCP reviews us regularly, but this verification began in the spring, after an “indecent proposal,” Kolev said.
Then he was visited in the office by a woman who posed as close to two famous businessmen. He proposes to transfer half of his business to a certain person and make a monopoly in the market. After Kolev’s refusal, the “accidental” client appeared and the CPC inspection began.
The “random” client signal
The signal for the CPC is related to the promotion of six types of Lego items from April 2020. The promotion was announced 100 percent in accordance with the requirements, Kolev said. It is stated that if an item cannot be purchased online, it can be found in one of the stores.
The customer visits one of the chain stores. It contained only five of the promo items and the sixth was missing. But the customer wanted to buy exactly the missing model. The saleswoman told him which store he had it in, but according to the CPC’s decision, he was not required to drive around, Kolev said.
A complaint is then made to the CPC, not the Consumer Protection Commission, where signs are usually presented and the investigation of “unfair competition” begins.
The victim claims in the sign that the “Hypoland” website did not indicate that the products included in the promotion refer only to limited quantities in stock. It also points out that it is a systematic commercial practice of “Hipoland” to attract customers with misleading advertising, with frequent promotions at greatly reduced prices, is clear from the CPC’s decision. Signal name removed.
The CPC’s decision
Below is a series of questions from the CPC to Hipoland.
“I am preparing a response with the lawyers and we are sending them, but I am impressed that the CCP did not take any of our arguments into account in their decision. This makes me think that they probably did not read them and it was all fictitious.”Kolev told Mediapool.
It defines the amount of the sanction imposed on them as a “precedent” and ensures that it is not imposed so high on anyone else, not only in our country, but also in the world. For this reason, they will appeal the CPC’s decision.
The Antitrust Commission defines the violation of “Hipoland” unfair competition as minor. In this case, the Methodology for determining the sanctions provides that it is up to 2% of the amount of the net sales income of the company from the previous year. The CPC imposes a fine on Hipoland of 0.2% of the company’s net sales revenue for the 2017 financial year, which exceeds BGN 62.2 million. In this case, the company is required to pay a fine of BGN 124,590 for misleading advertising. CPC.
The panel that decided on the Hippoland case is chaired by the CCP Vice President Dimitar Kyumyurdzhiev, who is a representative of the Patriotic Front and a former Deputy Minister of Defense. The rapporteur for the case is Georgitsa Stoyanova, a GERB nominee in the CCP and wife of the executive director of the state-run Bulgartransgaz, Vladimir Malinov.
The composition also includes Yambol Krassimir Zafirov’s lawyer, nominated by the party close to GERB businessman Hristo Kovachki, former constitutional judge Plamen Kirov, who is from the MRF quota, and Krassimir Vitanov, who was officially nominated by the UDF but it is also considered close. to GERB, remember “Capital”.
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