Markets in all Marzes of Armenia continue to play games with consumers. Many stores in Gyumri take advantage of being a monopoly in their communities and periodically put wrong labels and sell products that have expired or are rotten. This is becoming a big issue especially now during the days of New Years’ grocery shopping. However, the “worst” thing is that the Armenian consumer doesn’t care about this. With this in mind, we talked with president of the “Consumers’ Union” Armen Poghosyan. He confessed that there is no protection of consumer interests in the Marzes and that is a serious issue. “There are a couple of reasons. First of all, we can’t really do much in the Marzes; besides, the businesses in the Marzes do not receive the attention of the government,” says A. Poghosyan. He brought up an example, when butter was sold in stores in Yerevan and the label only read “Butter”-nothing else. The “Consumers’ Union” has talked about this through mass media many times. “In a short while, that butter was no longer in stores in Yerevan and transferred to the markets in the Marzes, “away from the public eye”. After all, that group of products had to be sold and “producers” knew very well that they were under strict control in the capital city,” says A. Poghosyan.
How does the “Consumers’ Union” make it all the way to the Marzes? The union only has three branches-Gyumri, Vanadzor and Sisian, which A. Poghosyan considers unsatisfactory. Having a limited amount of branches has a lot to do with the lack of finances. “Sometimes we conduct seminars for people living in the Marzes to know how to be a consumer, to have some dignity and be demanding,” says A. Poghosyan. Recently, a seminar like this was organized by the project implemented by the Ministry of Education and Sciences at the school in Nor Artamet village of the Kotayk Marz.
Surveys taken by the “Consumers’ Union” show that there are only 13% “strict” consumers that know what to do in case they see a product with an expired date and/or rotten food.
“The least that we must know is to look at the product’s expiration date and whether or not it is rotten. This is not only something which is asked to do or a norm, but rather, it is a demand by the “Consumer Security Law” of the Republic of Armenia. Consumers must realize that by not checking the expiration date of the product, they can endanger both their and their children’s lives,” says A. Poghosyan. Secondly, the citizen needs to “punish” the store by not purchasing anything from there anymore. However, there are more strict consumers which take other measures. Who to go to? As we found out from A. Poghosyan, if the consumer finds a product that has been expired, he or she must tell NGOs, including the “Consumers’ Union” and governmental bodies who must deal with those issues. Those governmental bodies include the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, and the State Department for Quality of the Republic of Armenia. “Finally, the corresponding store manager must know. If some consumers complain to the manager, then we can conclude that it will not go on like this and that there will be punishment,” advises A. Poghosyan. He is certain that if one out of ten consumers does this, we will not have such a big issue to deal with. Finally, store managers must not forget about the fact that they can be punished for what they are doing by the administration. The first fee is approximately 100,000 drams, but later the price goes up until the point where the store may lose its license.