Recent Development
The Ministry of Trade (“Ministry“) introduced amendments to the Price Tag Regulation (“Regulation“) and the Communiqué on the Use of Domestic Production Logos on Product Price Tags (“Communiqué“) on July 27, 2019. The Ministry’s amendments unified the provisions of the Regulation and the Communiqué and revised the provisions regarding the obligation to place labels on products.
What’s New?
The amendments revised the definitions of “label” and “price lists” under both the Regulation and the Communiqué. Accordingly, labels must include not only the sale price, unit price, the place of production and the distinctive feature of the goods, but also all the mandatory items set forth under the Regulation.
In addition, the relevant regulations regarding the determination of the place of production and domestic production logos under the Communiqué were added to Article 4 of the Regulation.
The Ministry also revised Article 5 of the Regulation titled “Obligation to place labels on products”. Pursuant to the revised provision, labels placed on products that sellers released into the retail market may be in written, digital or electronic form. In this respect, the Ministry simplified the wording of the provision and avoided explicitly referring to mandatory items to be included in the label, merely providing information on the format of the labels.
As for the tariff and price lists for services, as in the previous regulation, the labels must contain the services’ distinctive feature, the sale price with tax included and the effective date of the prices.
Moreover, it is no longer required to include the place of production in the labels and price lists for products bearing domestic product logos.
Regarding the goods and services subject to discount, the new regulation requires the discounted sale price to be placed on the label, tariff or price list along with the actual sale price and in an easily visible and legible manner. This is different from the previous regulation, which required the discounted price to be indicated in the same size as the actual price.
Conclusion
The Ministry continues to issue detailed regulations on the use of price tags on goods and services introduced to the retail trade. Companies in the retail sector should follow the Ministry’s announcements and comply with the requirements set forth under the Regulation and the Communiqué before introducing their products into the market.
