The NECC Euro Assistants have performed over 38,000 visits to shops and retail outlets since January – an average of 104 visits per day – a spokesman for the National Euro Changeover Committee said.

Of a total of 328 reports about incorrect dual display, 116 outlets were served with a First Direction, and only in 19 cases was a Second Direction issued. This means that only those who persisted in doing wrong were handed down an administrative fine, and in the long run only occurred three times.

When it comes to price increases, so far there were 357 complaints on euro-induced price increases. In 294 cases, the Euro Observatory concluded that no further action was necessary, as justifiable causes for the increases were immediately obvious, especially in the prevailing circumstances of energy and food price increases.

63 cases were investigated further by asking for written justification for the increase by the retailer or importer. Following their submissions, 38 cases were closed as it was determined that the increase was deemed as justified by economic reasons, for example, higher cost of labour, raw materials, energy and capital investments. In three cases it was concluded that the price increase was not justified, and the owners were asked to revert back to the original price against the risk of being fined. In these three cases compliance was achieved and no fine was imposed. A further 22 cases are being investigated.

In January 2007, the NECC published its Consumer Protection Framework in its Third Update of the Masterplan for euro adoption in Malta. It consists of: the legal framework protecting against price abuse through the law and regulations on dual display, euro pricing and smoothing; the FAIR initiative which has seen close to 7,000 subscriptions; the Euro Observatory as the key enforcement and monitoring arm; regular price monitoring through the Price Watch and the Mystery Shopping initiative, and the information campaign itself, which sensitises consumers to price movements and lastly the Price Stability Agreements themselves.

These initiatives are all the result of the lessons learnt from the previous changeovers. It is interesting to note that the Maltese are the least pessimistic of all the new member states, when it comes to their fears about possible price rises related to the euro’s introduction.

The law provides for administrative fines. This means that there is no need to take anyone to court. But the Euro Observatory can follow a three stage warning process, following which an administrative fine is imposed. One can file a report by calling linja ewro 154 or sending an email to [email protected]