More fines for multinationals
Development Minister Kostas Skrekas on Wednesday announced the imposition of fines on two more multinational companies, which, as in the two previous cases a few days earlier, are active in the categories of personal hygiene, personal care and beauty, as well as in the category of household items (cleaners, detergents etc).
After Unilever and Procter & Gamble, it was the turn of Johnson & Johnson Greece and Colgate Palmolive on Wednesday, which were fined 1 million euros and €672,000 respectively, for unfair profiteering. Furthermore, the inspections conducted by the competent services of the Development Ministry found that they have violated legislation that provides for a ceiling on the gross profit margin.
According to competent ministry sources, pricing above the ceiling concerned dozens of product codes. It is worth noting that the above two companies have not yet participated in the “permanent price reduction” initiative and it remains to be seen whether they will do so in the near future.
At the same time, inspections are continuing at at least four large multinational companies that are active in the categories of detergents, coffee, breakfast cereals and household cleaners-pesticides, while inspections are also under way at Greek companies, mainly in the food sector.
