Consumer organizations to address president with request to annul moratorium on checks based on consumer complaints
KYIV. Nov 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The organizations on protection of consumer rights will address Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with a request to annul a moratorium on inspections of business based on consumer complaints, representative of the Consumer Assembly of Ukraine Andriy Lyha said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
"We welcome the cashback law signed by the president, but we intend to appeal to him seeking to lift the moratorium on inspections based on consumer complaints," he said, noting that it is impossible, on the one hand, to protect consumers, and on the other hand to remove this protection.
"The past government has already introduced a moratorium. It didn't result in anything good for consumers… the general worsening of the situation with the protection of consumer rights," Lyha said.
At the same time, he said that the introduction of the cashback mechanism causes great resistance from unscrupulous business, although it fully complies with European standards for protecting consumer rights, which allow buyers to control the market and influence it. The cashback mechanism is one of the tools of such an influence, as it will give each consumer the opportunity of checking whether they received a legal fiscal check or a useless piece of paper. "And this actually immediately puts an end to smuggling products, tax evasion and, most importantly, protects the average buyer," Lyha said.
As reported, Zelensky signed laws amending the law of Ukraine on the application of cash registers in the sphere of trade, catering and services and amending the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the detailing of settlements in the field of trade and services, which the parliament adopted on September 20, 2019.
The laws are aimed at protecting legal businesses from unfair competition, removing the share of cash payments from the shadows, "gray" goods, improving the efficiency of tax administration and public control over settlement transactions. The implementation of the provisions of the documents will help to increase the general level of tax culture and protect consumers through phased expansion of the fiscalization of settlement transactions and the introduction of innovative technological solutions in the form of software-based registers first as an alternative to the conventional cash registers.
The function of software-based cash registers can be performed by any device (computer, tablet, smartphone) on which the corresponding software is installed. At the same time, the State Tax Service of Ukraine must provide a software solution for the use of software-based registers by a business entity, and software-based registers will be registered via an electronic cabinet.
In order to encourage consumers to receive checks, the law proposes to introduce the so-called "cashback" mechanism from October 1, 2020, providing for the possibility to compensate the buyer (consumer) 100% of the cost of purchased goods (works, services) due to a portion of penalties for violation of the requirements for cash registers applied under his complaint.
The implementation of the cashback mechanism was supported by the participants of the Consumer Assembly of Ukraine, the largest public associations involved in protecting consumer rights. They consider this legislative initiative to be innovative, stating that the employees of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumers' Rights Protection are ineffective in modern practice, as they incorrectly respond to consumer complaints, delay the time for consideration of complaints and are prone to corruption.